I am a certified science teacher (Biology, Chemistry) who has taught science primarily in the Pacific Islands for decades. A graduate of the University of California (Berkeley), I have passed Praxis qualification exams, National Teacher Examinations and so on - so I am not unqualified academically. While I am surprised to have the topic brought up in a knife discussion forum, I am very happy to see that citizens are concerned about education and the level of science teaching in their communities.
As I see it, there is a real problem with science education because schools and school boards do not want to invest in real "hands-on" science education and are afraid of any laboratory work that might conceivably injure any student and bring about a lawsuit or any kind of complaint. There is also a fear of any kind of controversial topic (birth control, global warming, evolutionary theory) that might have parents up in arms - from either the "liberal" or the "conservative" side. As I see public education in modern America, qualified science teachers are put in a straitjacket where they must spend most of their time writing lesson plans that are scrutinized by people unqualified in science and must teach reading and basic math skills that are the major emphasis of standardized tests. Lab facilities and lab equipment are not part of the budget plan, although schools try to use computers as a substitute for actual laboratory work. Computer simulations can be useful, but they are no substitute for the real thing.
Some very good science programs and curricula that emphasize lab and field work do exist, and recent texts have done a good job emphasizing safety and removing toxic chemicals from school labs. However, there is a real problem when a class in marine science is not allowed to go on a field trip in the ocean because an administrator will not allow it or when parents do not want their children to handle scalpels. The often irrational fear of AIDS or of any kind of contamination now requires that biology be taught with artificial blood, artificial urine and no bacterial cultures- and do not even think of having live animals or plants in a classroom.
A lack of maturity, common sense, discipline and common courtesy on the part of too many students is a serious problem, and some parents seem to encourage the sense of entitlement and lack of responsibility that is too common. As a Peace Corps volunteer teacher in Westem Samoa, I taught students who paid fees to go to school and who had to pass a test to be admitted to high school. At that time, there was no compulsory education and a village had to raise money to build its own school. Schools were not broken into because the school belonged to the village was watched over by the village. Samoan students also worked on the plantation, cooked over open fires and did household chores. Before attending school, they had already learned the basic safety rules needed for laboratory work: sharp things cut and hot things burn. Modern students in the USA too often do not have such a background.
Please let me end this rant, as I am starting to sound like my father (who grew up on a farm before WWII) telling me about how easy the younger generation has it. There is no easy solution to the problem of science education, but I feel that a good start can be made by recruiting qualified teachers, providing them with a supportive environment and adequate resources, then leaving them alone to do the of teaching science. If the USA cannot make such a commitment, then we will suffer a severe lack of nurses, doctors, scientists and engineers. We will also see a continued lack of science literacy in our society.
Faiaoga ("schoolteacher" in Samoan)
