Our Looming Science Crisis
By James K. Glassman

A scientist from the Bronx named David Bauer has developed a low-cost sensor which can quickly detect the presence of nerve agents after a biochemical attack. The patch has the potential to save thousands of lives if terrorists strike.

 

But David Bauer is no ordinary scientist. He doesn't have a Ph.D. or even a high school diploma. He's a 17-year-old student and a member of the varsity fencing team at a Manhattan high school. In March, I watched (teary-eyed, I'll admit) as he walked away with a $100,000 scholarship--first prize in the Intel Science Talent Search competition.

 

Second prize went to Timothy Credo, 17, of Highland Park, Illinois, who wrote the software for a fast, accurate detector of subatomic particles while moonlighting at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Others among the 40 finalists were: Ailish Elizabeth Bateman of Sag Harbor, New York, who isolated a novel antibiotic compound in beech tree fungus; Kelley Harris of Sacramento, California, whose work advanced the search for a smallpox cure; and Albert Tsao of Brookline, Massachusetts, who designed "silicon nanofiber ring resonator loops that are thinner than the wavelength of light."

 

Ten of the 40 got perfect SAT scores, and 15 ranked first in their class, but these kids aren't nerds. Finalist Justin Alexander Kovac of Miami, for example, is on the track team and "enjoys snorkeling, cycling, and swing dancing." The teenage scientists were gracious, articulate, and sharp-looking in tuxes and evening gowns at the awards dinner I attended (my dinner companion whispered that at least three of the women looked like super-models). Three eighths of the finalists were women (Larry Summers, please note), and about half were Asian Americans.

 

These kids' success, however, masks a terrible threat to America's economic growth and security. As Craig Barrett, Intel's CEO, put it, "We still do a very, very poor job of educating our kids" in science and math. In a comparison of high school graduates in the world's top 25 countries, "an American kid is, on average, near the bottom 10 percent."

 

The trouble begins in high school, or earlier, but it is showing up dramatically now in America's high-tech universities and businesses. According to a 2004 National Science Foundation study, fewer U.S. undergraduates were enrolled in math and engineering courses in 2000-02 than in the mid 1980s. In 1975, South Korea and Taiwan had just two science and engineering degree earners per 100 college-age citizens; in 2000, that number was 11. In the U.S., the ratio has languished--just 6 percent in 2000.

 

Without foreign enrollment, the U.S. figures would be far worse. The majority of recipients of doctoral degrees in mathematics, computer science, and engineering at American universities today are not U.S. citizens.

 

In the past, the U.S. has benefited from these foreign graduates, since many have chosen to stay here, joining American companies or starting their own. But now, as prosperity increases back home, many are returning. It's hardly surprising that American high-tech firms are looking abroad for research and development.

 

What to do? Clearly, some high schools, mostly suburban, are encouraging young scientists. Four of the Intel finalists came from a single school, Montgomery Blair in Silver Spring, Maryland, which has a school-within-a-school for science, math, and technology. Three finalists, including the second- and sixth-place finishers, came from the Illinois Mathematics & Science Academy, a public boarding school in Aurora, Illinois. Fifth-place finisher Ryan Harrison, an African American, attends Baltimore Polytechnic, a public high school specializing in science and engineering.

 

What the Intel finalists seemed to have in common were motivated parents and mentors--at their schools as well as at local universities and government labs--and the opportunity to take a path suited to their talents.

 

A sensible policy prescription to improve science education should have two pillars: 1) the courage to put the students on a special science track early, even by seventh or eighth grade, despite opposition by social levelers, and 2) competition among schools.

 

Public charter schools, magnet and specialized schools, vouchers and taxpayer-paid scholarships for private schools--these are the competitive means for finding solutions to our impending science and math crisis.