Contact: Bob Ratliff
By A. Wayne Bennett
A. Wayne Bennett is dean of the College of Engineering at Mississippi State University.
This week, Feb. 21-27, is National Engineers Week. A group of nationally recognized engineers are on the Mississippi State campus to help us celebrate the week and its theme of "turning ideas into reality." They include one of our graduates, Earnest Deavenport, a native of Macon, president and CEO of Eastman Chemical Company and the national honorary chair of Engineers Week.
While most of the attention of Engineers Week is on the future and the opportunities for students who are studying engineering, I am concerned about students who may not have that opportunity. The Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) recently was released and provides data on the performance of a sampling of the nation's fourth, eighth and 12th graders. The test measures skills in math and science--disciplines fundamental to success in engineering and other technical professions.
Unfortunately, the results are not encouraging. Our fourth graders are about average, but by the eighth grade, U.S. students are below average and scores continue to decline through the 12th grade.
These scores are more than predictors of success for students studying engineering. They are an ominous warning of our problems in competing in the global economic marketplace. Whether or not our fourth, eighth and 12th graders plan to study engineering, they will become involved in our businesses and industries. In a world marketplace dominated by technology, those businesses and industries need employees with strong math and science skills to compete successfully.
I recently heard Congressman Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) outline legislation for enhancing math and science education in the U.S. He is the first physicist elected to Congress and a real advocate of education. Among his points were the need to teach science by doing science--not teaching about science--and the need to teach science as a method of inquiry, not a collection of facts. He added that our curricula needs to be objective centered, experiment oriented and concept based. Lastly, he emphasized the need to improve professional development opportunities and pay for our teachers.
Many of the concepts Congressman Ehlers proposes could be enhanced through partnerships between K-12 education and the nation's engineering schools. This is a direction in which Mississippi State University's College of Engineering has been moving for some time. We have a full time staff member dedicated to working with the K-12 system. We also are exploring ways we can work with MSU's colleges of education and arts and sciences, as well as our state extension service.
All of us have a stake in this issue. Improving our K-12 math and science education is the key to preparing good engineers and scientists, good workers for our businesses and factories and better voters and wise consumers. I can think of no better way to "turn ideas into reality."