

Why Johnny can't hypothesize: A discussion about math and science education - cwan
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=why-johnny-cant-hypothesize-a-discu-2009-10-26

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yummyfajitas
This article is way off, on so many things.

 _Why are U.S. children so far behind in science and math compared with those
in other developed countries?_

Because the US has fewer high performing Asians and more low performing
Blacks/Hispanics than other developed countries. That's all there is to it.

[http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2010/12/amazing-truth-
abou...](http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2010/12/amazing-truth-about-pisa-
scores-usa.html)

 _Convincing star college scientists to enter the field of K-12 education can
be a hard sell, especially when comparing salaries of public school teachers
with those elsewhere in the science industry._

I don't know exactly what the "science industry" is, but in general this is
bunk. K-12 education is paid vastly better (in terms of money and job
security) than most scientists. Perhaps tenured profs do better, but most
scientists are not tenured profs.

~~~
w1ntermute
In case you didn't realize, that sounds incredibly racist.

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yummyfajitas
That's why I like HN. I can make a factually correct statement with
conclusions that are politically incorrect and not be accused of harboring
racial bias or animosity towards people of other races.

However, in the interest of honesty, I will admit to racism in one arena
completely unrelated to the discussion here - I prefer dating dark skinned
women to light skinned ones.

~~~
cristoperb
I'm still not sure how to interpret your original post. Are you claiming that
the source of the achievement gap is somehow inherent in "race"? Or are you
simply pointing out the correlation to race, without making claims to its
source (allowing for the actual source to be something else like income
level)?

~~~
yummyfajitas
I'm claiming that either race directly, or something correlated with it,
explains a large amount of test score variation. And once you correct for
this, the US scores very well.

Also, should have linked to this post comparing Asian Americans to Asians.

[http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-well-do-
above-...](http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-well-do-above-
average-american.html)

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orev
What a surprise, another article that blames the teachers. They are not the
problem, the PARENTS are the problem.

The parents are the ones who think that the only place to learn is in school,
and everywhere else you can play gameboy. The parents are the ones who think
"being intellectual" is a bad thing and you should be playing football
instead. The parents are the ones who opted-out of paying school taxes when
they didn't have kids. The parents are the ones who don't make sure their kids
are studying. The parents are the ones who yell at the teachers if their kid
gets an F, instead of yelling at the kid. The parents are the ones who have
driven all the good teachers away from teaching, or have beaten-down the ones
who stayed.

You don't have to wonder why so many teachers have a standing appointment at
happy hour every day.

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joel4039
I think one of the comments on the original article sums up my thoughts:

    
    
      "Why? You don't think the fact that a majority of the US 

population is superstitious, and teaches their offspring that the world is the
pet project of a master magician might have anything to do with it?"

~~~
sorbus
It's only going to get worse. Just look at all the efforts to stop evolution
from being taught in schools, and, in at least one state, to make it illegal
for teachers to grade answers as incorrect if the answer is supported by the
religious beliefs of the student.

