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发表于 2016-7-11 21:18:14
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Perhaps it's no surprise that, according to a 2004 Indiana University survey, 18% of college prep kids weren't taking math their senior year of high school. "When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I'm terrified for our workforce of tomorrow," Microsoft chairman Bill Gates told a summit of state governors earlier this year. "Our high schools, even when they're working exactly as designed, cannot teach our kids what they need to know today."
The Bush Administration has also proposed cutting the fiscal 2006 budget for research and development in such key federal agencies as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the latter of which acts as a liaison(联络)with industry and researchers to apply new technology.
"Funding cuts are job cuts," says Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers, Republican of Michigan and a member of the Science Committee in the House. Reduced funding has put the squeeze on research positions, further smothering incentives(动机)for students to go into hard science.
What Americans Must Do
Americans have done it before: the Manhattan Project, the technology surge that followed Sputnik. They've demonstrated that they can commit themselves to daunting goals and achieve them. But they can't minimize the challenges they're facing.
Americans need out-or-the-box thinking, of the sort suggested by experts in a report released in October called "Rising above the Gathering Storm", a study group within the National Academy of Sciences, which included the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, came up with innovative proposals. Among them are:
?Four-year scholarships for 25,000 undergraduate students who commit to degrees in math, science or engineering, and who qualify based on a competitive national exam;
?Four-year scholarships for 10,000 college students who commit to being math or science teachers, and who agree to teach in a public school for five years after graduation;
?Extended visas for foreign students who earn a math or science PhD in the United States, giving them a year after graduation to look for employment here. If they find jobs, work permits and permanent residency status would be expedited.
Many experts are also urging that non-credentialed but knowledgeable people with industry experience be allowed to teach. That experiment is already underway at High Tech High in San Diego. Conceived by Gary Jacobs, whose father founded Qualcomm, this charter school stresses a cutting-edge curriculum, whether the classes are on biotechnology or web design. To teach these courses, the school hires industry professionals. High Tech High also arranges internships at robotics labs, Internet start-ups and university research centers.
In just five years, 750 kids have enrolled, three classes have graduated and the vast majority of students have gone on to college. One of the success stories is Jeff Jensen, class of 2005, who was a decidedly apathetic(缺乏兴趣的)student before High Tech High. He is now a freshman at Stanford University on a partial scholarship, planning to study chemistry or medicine.
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