America Dribbles While Latvia Scores

Any educated person would be embarrassed to admit he doesn’t know how to read, but many Americans have no hesitation admitting they are incompetent in math. Students who demonstrate their talents in math and science are labeled as “nerds” and castigated. Lawyers, doctors and businessmen as a rule make more money than mathematicians and scientists, and many prime-time television programs glorify doctors, lawyers and police officers, but none yet incorporate math and science in any meaningful way.

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

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

As U.S. students get older, they do worse. By eighth grade, students in Singapore, Hong Kong and other countries have expanded their lead over U.S. students. Given our system of local control of education and our diverse and large population, with both cultural and economic stratification, it is not difficult to understand that the U.S. will not be competitive on average with small countries such as Finland, which have a relatively homogeneous population and centralized educational policies.

Still, 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 is critical to evaluating the latest study about global warming. Only through math can we assess Social Security reform.

University graduates with math and science degrees usually have more lucrative career choices than teaching, so an alarming percentage of our K-12 math teachers did not get their formal training in math or science. California has recognized the need for better teaching and has passed legislation providing funds for professional training.

Real change, however, will require political leadership at the national and state level and the willingness of taxpayers to pay for sweeping solutions. The U.S. responded to the Soviet Sputnik challenge in the 1960s and succeeded in sending men to the moon. Perhaps China’s meteoric rise in economic power will galvanize our national will this time. Perhaps we’ll learn to value math and science before we’re a superpower only on the world’s basketball courts and baseball diamonds.