It should come as no surprise to parents of Utah students that a new international study is critical of the way math and science are taught in the United States.
The study says the traditional U.S. math curriculum covers too many concepts and covers them superficially. It also points out that the "advanced" math often reserved for the top few students is considered basic knowledge in many other nations.It often seems that secondary-school students skim the surface of several math subjects, then move on or quit taking math altogether. Contrast that with the requirement that all students take an English class every term of every year. The same commitment should be made to teaching and learning math.
The study also blamed the lack of a national curriculum in math and science education for the poor performance of American students compared with students of the same age in other countries.
"There is no one at the helm . . . in truth there is no helm (in U.S. math and science education)," the study concludes.
Putting someone at the helm and adopting a national curriculum would go a long way toward the shallow approach now taken to teaching math and science.
Unless states and school districts can get help in setting standards and defining academic expectations, the nation's public school students will continue to come in either last or almost last among industrialized countries in standardized science and math tests.
This international study is only the most recent of many studies that say the same thing: American educators need a single coherent vision of how to teach children, and priorities have to include more thorough studies of math and science.