Tougher Graduation Requirements

In 1983 the secretary of education under President Reagan released a report entitled, “A Nation at Risk.” A famous line from that report conjectured that if a foreign nation had imposed upon us this mediocre system of schooling, the U.S. would consider it an act of war. At that time, the major threat was the Soviet Union on the security front and Japan on the economic front. Japanese companies had surged in the late seventies in technology and manufacturing. Calling for raising academic standards, A Nation at Risk became the genesis of the standards-based movement that emerged in the early 1990’s and has made the No Child Left Behind legislation possible. Every state but Iowa has established state standards and has a state testing system. In addition to raising academic standards, the report also called for strengthening the graduation requirements in core topic areas: language arts, math, and science.

Two decades later, terrorism has replaced the Soviet Union as the primary security threat and globalization, particularly outsourcing and the “China Price,” have replaced Japan as the primary economic threat. The solution remains the same. The Wall Street Journal reported today on a stiffening of high school graduation requirements across several states. A major proponent of this movement is Achieve, Inc., a business-backed educational policy nonprofit. Board members include the likes of former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner and former Intel CEO Craig Barret.

While A Nation at Risk spurred a strengthening of at least rudimentary graduation requirements in math and science, the article highlights efforts in a number of states seeking to increase the number of math and science courses needed for graduation. The goal is to move beyond rudimentary requirements to requiring all students to successfully complete a college prep sequence of math and science. According to Becoming Adult a study by Csikszentmihalyi and Schneider, the most important factor influencing whether a high school student attends a four-year college is successful completion of high-level math and science courses. Requiring students to take higher-level math and science courses will maximize opportunities for graduating high school students.

However, the article cites that such moves will increase the cost of doing business. In many cases it will require hiring more math and science teachers at a time when qualified math and science teachers are already in high demand. In addition, to accommodate more science courses will require constructing more lab-equipped classrooms. Texas estimates it will cost $200 million to equip enough classrooms to accommodate an increase of 200,000 students taking additional science courses.

Toshmo, R. (2005, March 29). “Diploma bar is getting higher at many U.S. high schools,” Wall Street Journal, B1, B4.

Fewer Engineering Offspring

From 1975 to 2000, the U.S. dropped from 3rd to 17th worldwide rank in the number of engineers it produces. The Wall Street Journal reports continuous concern over this decrease in engineers. A number of tech executives warn that this trend will have a significant impact on the United States’ long-term competitiveness. In an interesting ironic twist, these same engineering executives report that they are having a hard time interesting their own children to pursue careers in engineering. The offspring cite several reasons for their lack of interest. First is a fear that there will not be engineering opportunities in the U.S. since engineering jobs are being outsourced to India. A second reason is a lack of interest based on their experiences in school. About 120,000 students start off in engineering. However, only about half graduate. The article also cites poor math and science curricula as well as persistent image problems. Engineers are often thought of as socially awkward or obsessed with work.

It is interesting to note that in a study by Csikszentmihalyi and Schneider called Becoming Adult, engineering was in the top 10 careers that middle and high school students thought they would pursue after college. Why is there such a big gap between interest at the middle school level and graduation of engineers from college? I personally do not buy the argument that it is simply a factor of poor public education. The 120,000 freshman who start out in engineering are an elite class. To make it into an engineering program, these students made it through an advanced sequence of math and science courses in high school and have scored well on their SAT’s. The offspring highlighted in the article did not cite lack of ability as the reason for leaving, but rather lack of interest. It seems like programs aimed at retaining students in engineering programs would have more bang for the buck. A one hundred percent retention rate would double the number of engineering graduates and vault the U.S. back to the top of the world rank.

Grimes, A. (2005, March 29). “Even tech execs can’t get kids to be engineers,” Wall Street Journal, B1, B6.

Bill Gates’ Think Week

When I graduated from Northwestern University with a B.S. in education and computer programming, I was invited to interview with Microsoft in Redmond, WA. I interviewed with members of the MS Word and Encarta development teams. Each of the developers that interviewed me posed interesting programming challenges and asked me to sketch proposed algorithms on white boards in their office. During the course of each interview I also mentioned that my long-term interest was developing educational software and perhaps Microsoft would be interested in that market. Finally, one of the programmers told me that Bill Gates is not interested in educational software. I ended up not getting a job at Microsoft.

I have no idea whether that programmer is still at Microsoft, but how times have changed. The Wall Street Journal was invited to visit with Bill Gates on one of his twice-annual Think Weeks. Gates secludes himself in an undisclosed retreat location for one week to focus on the future directions of technology and Microsoft’s strategic positioning. In his most recent Think Week, Gates read roughly 100 papers in eight topic areas. One of those topic areas was education. Gates read a paper by Craig Bartholomew, the general manager of the education group, in which Bartholomew discusses recommendations for how Microsoft’s core products can better address the education market. Apparently, the paper was well received and Bartholomew reports that, “People in my group are optimistic now.”

Given Gates’ active interest in education policy both through the Gates Foundation and through his public comments about the state of education (e.g. National Governors summit on high school reform), it is clear that Gates has taken a keen interest in improving education. It will be interesting to see what Microsoft’s education technology strategy will be.

Guth, R. A. (2005, March 28). “In secret hideaway, Bill Gates ponders Microsoft’s future,” Wall Street Journal, A1.