Chemical Education Today
Editorial
Meeting the Challenges of Globalization Last summer two members of the U.S. Senate, Lamar ing four-year scholarships that would entail a commitment Alexander and Jeff Bingaman, and two U.S. Representatives, of five years service in public K–12 education. Another goal Sherwood Boehlert and Bart Gordon, requested that The Nais to strengthen the skills of 250,000 in-service teachers tional Academies (1) identify, “the top 10 actions, in priority through summer institutes, Master’s degree programs, and special training for advanced-placeorder, that federal policy-makers could take to enhance the science and It is crucial that we as individuals and ment or international baccalaureate programs. To support teachers, the technology enterprise so that the United States can successfully comas a country rise to the challenge of committee recommends convening a national panel to collect, evaluate, pete, prosper, and be secure in the global community of the 21st Cen- globalization with renewed investment and develop K–12 curriculum materials of the highest quality and to tury”. To address this request, The National Academies created a Comin the future through education, providing these free of charge as a voluntary national curriculum. To mittee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century (2). research, and innovation. increase the number of undergraduate and graduate degrees in science, The list of committee members inengineering, and mathematics the cludes prominent scientists such as committee proposes creating 25,000 new four-year competiJoshua Lederberg, George M. Whitesides, and Richard N. tive undergraduate scholarships for U.S. citizens in U.S. inZare (from whom I learned of the committee’s work), busistitutions and 5000 new graduate fellowships that would ness leaders such as Norman R. Augustine, retired Chairman provide U.S. graduate students with direct funding that could and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp., Charles Holliday, Jr., be used at any institution. Chairman of the Board of DuPont, and leaders in governThe committee was asked to recommend only actions ment and education such as Nancy Grasmick, Maryland state that could be taken by the federal government, but it is cersuperintendent of schools, and Shirley Ann Jackson, president tainly aware that action is needed at all levels of society. Trainof Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, past president of AAAS, ing 10,000 highly qualified new teachers will do little good if and former chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. state requirements prevent them from reaching classrooms or The committee has prepared a report that is important school boards are unwilling to pay competitive salaries to new for all scientists to read (3). Its findings echo those of studies or already active teachers with special expertise. Perhaps the I have described in previous editorials (4). The committee conmost important aspect of this report is not the specific implecludes that “scientific and technical building blocks of our ecomentation actions recommended but rather its clear delineanomic leadership are eroding at a time when many other tion of the problems the U.S. will face in the absence of action. nations are gathering strength” and suggests that the U.S. must It is crucial that we as individuals and as a country rise compete by “optimizing its knowledge-based resources, parto the challenge of globalization with renewed investment in ticularly in science and technology, and by sustaining the most the future through education, research, and innovation. If fertile environment for new and revitalized industries and the we rest on our laurels, a rapidly changing world is likely to well-paying jobs they bring”. The committee provides four pass us by and young people in the U.S. may face poorer recommendations: prospects than their elders enjoyed. Let us resolve, as the Na• Vastly improve K–12 science and mathematics educational Academies committee has, to convince policymakers tion in the U.S. to support science, technology, engineering, and mathemat• Sustain and strengthen the U.S. commitment to longics education commensurate with their importance to the term basic research. future of this country. • Make the U.S. the most attractive setting in the world in which to study and do research.
• Ensure that the U.S. is the premier place in the world to innovate.
Following each of these recommendations are several implementation actions that lay out in more detail how the committee proposes to achieve each goal. Implementation actions that specifically address the education system involve recruiting students to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and to careers in teaching these subjects, by providing undergraduate scholarships, summer institutes and other teacher training programs, graduate fellowships, and employer-supported continuing education. A major proposal is to recruit 10,000 new science and mathematics teachers to the K–12 ranks annually by awardwww.JCE.DivCHED.org
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Literature Cited 1. The National Academies. http://www.nationalacademies.org/ (accessed Nov 2005). 2. The Web site of the National Academies’ committee can be found at http://www7.nationalacademies.org/prospering/index. html (accessed Nov 2005). J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81, 1079. 3. National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine of The National Academies. Rising above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future; National Academies Press: Washington, DC, 2005; available at http://www.nap.edu/ (accessed Nov 2005). 4. Moore, J. W. J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81, 1079; J. Chem. Educ. 2005, 82, 807.
Vol. 83 No. 1 January 2006
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Journal of Chemical Education
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