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We're a superpower, but a math weakling

BY TOny Chan

Educated people would be embarrassed to say they don’t know how to read, but many Americans have no hesitation admitting they’re incompetent in math. Students who demonstrate their talents in math and science are castigated as “nerds” in a world where lawyers, doctors and businessmen generally make more money than mathematicians and scientists. Prime-time television programs glorify doctors, lawyers and police officers, but few programs have yet incorporated math and science in any meaningful way.

These cultural influences are powerful, so I was not surprised that the results from two recent international tests of mathematics competence show our 15-year-olds close to the bottom in a ranking of their peers from 29 industrialized nations in their ability to apply mathematics to real-life situations. This places the United States just above Mexico and Turkey, but below Finland, France, Poland and Hong Kong. The countries we beat in the Olympics defeat us in math.

In the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), we appear to do somewhat better, but this study includes developing countries such as Ghana and Botswana. TIMSS shows U.S. fourth-graders ranking just above those in Cyprus and Moldova — and behind those in not only tiny Singapore and Hong Kong, but also Latvia and Hungary.

As U.S. students get older, they do worse. By eighth grade, their counterparts in Singapore, Hong Kong and elsewhere have expanded their lead. Given our system of local control over education and our culturally and economically stratified population, it is not difficult to understand that the United States will not be competitive on average with small countries such as Finland, which have centralized educational policies and a relatively smaller and far more homogeneous population.

We must do better. Not only is math the foundation of a highly technological society, math skills are essential to function in a democracy. Understanding probability, for example, is critical to evaluating the latest studies about global warming. Only through math can we assess Social Security reform and make personal decisions about how to invest our retirement income.

Because university graduates who have math and science degrees usually choose careers more financially lucrative than teaching, an alarming percentage of our K-12 math teachers have not received their formal training in math or science. One high school science teacher attending a teacher-training program at UCLA admitted she was only a couple of days ahead of her class in learning the material she taught. No wonder the dropout rate among new teachers is high.

California has recognized the need for better teaching and has passed legislation providing funds for professional training for teachers. My own mathematics department at UCLA has a long tradition of providing teacher-preparation programs and offering a math major that prepares students for K-12 teaching. Real change, however, will require political leadership at the national and state levels, not to mention the willingness of taxpayers to pay for sweeping solutions.

The United States responded to the Soviet Sputnik challenge in the 1960s and sent the first humans to the moon. Perhaps China’s rising economic might will galvanize our national will this time around. Otherwise, the day is not far when we’ll be a superpower only on the world’s basketball courts and baseball fields.

Chan is dean of physical science and a professor of mathematics.