Many of this country's naturally gifted scientists--its most inquisitive, observant, persistent citizens--share a handicap: they can't read yet. They also can't play with matches, focus microscopes or see over lab tables. "Children love to explore the natural world. They love to make sense out of it," says Carlo Parravano, director of the Merck Institute for Science Education, which trains teachers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. "By fourth grade, we squash that curiosity with the way we teach science."
The years from Baby Einstein to AP physics are an increasing source of worry for corporations like Merck and for colleges and universities, which see a shrinking pipeline of talented U.S. students pursuing the sciences. Without a Sputnik to galvanize the nation, and with an emphasis on testing in reading and math, the nation's already ill-equipped science teachers have been fighting for the attention of students, principals and policymakers. The policymakers, it seems, are starting to listen. After calling it imperative in his State of the Union speech that U.S. students receive a "firm grounding in math and science," President George W. Bush is expected to unveil $380 million in science-education initiatives in his 2007 budget this week. "The [Department of Education] slogan was 'Reading first,' and then they had 'Math now.' Well, I guess it's 'Science finally,'" says Gerald Wheeler, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association.
It's not that U.S. students' math and science scores are plummeting. Since 1995, fourth-graders have maintained their scores, and eighth-graders have slightly improved theirs, according to the 2003 "Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study." But other places, like England, Hong Kong and New Zealand, are improving faster, and some, like Singapore and Japan, are miles ahead. Even eighth-graders in much poorer countries like Estonia and Hungary outperformed their U.S. peers, who came in ninth of the 44 nations on the science portion of the test.
Perhaps even more important than the struggle of U.S. students to keep pace with their international peers is their failure to keep up in enthusiasm for the subject. At 2004's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Portland, Ore., the world's pre-eminent precollege science event, Intel chairman Craig Barrett asked China's Education Minister how many students there take part in regional science fairs. "When he said 6 million kids, it was a moment of reflection," says Barrett. In the U.S., about 50,000 take part in the fairs. Stanford University president John Hennessy is worried about a lack of role models, among other things. "We have [TV] shows about doctors, lawyers, politicians. Where are our role models of scientific innovation?" asks Hennessy. "We need Eddie the Engineer or Sam the Scientist."