By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY
Stagnant scientific education imperils U.S. economic leadership, says a report by leading business and science figures.
Released Thursday at a congressional briefing attended by senators and congressmen of both parties, the report updates a 2005 science education report that led to moves to double federal research funding.
Nevertheless, the "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" review finds little improvement in U.S. elementary and secondary technical education since then.
"Our nation's outlook has worsened," concludes the report panel headed by formerLockheed Martin chief Norman Augustine. The report "paints a daunting outlook for America if it were to continue on the perilous path it has been following":
•U.S. mathematics and science K-12 education ranks 48th worldwide.
•49% of U.S. adults don't know how long it takes for the Earth to circle the sun.
•China has replaced the United States as the world's top high-technology exporter.
Although U.S. school achievement scores have stagnated, harming the economy as employers look elsewhere for competent workers, the report says that other nations have made gains.
If U.S. students matched Finland's, for example, analysis suggests the U.S. economy would grow 9%-16%.
"The real point is that we have to have a well-educated workforce to create opportunities for young people," says Charles Vest, head of the National Academy of Engineering, a report sponsor. "Otherwise, we don't have a chance."
"The current economic crisis makes the link between education and employment very clear," says Steven Newton of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland.
In 2007, however, an analysis led by B. Lindsay Lowell of Georgetown University found U.S. science education worries overstated. It saw three times more science and engineering college graduates than job openings each year. Other reports have found top science and engineering students migrating to better-paying jobs in finance, law and medicine, since the 1990s.
