A call for more college science and math

Science News, April 10, 1999 by J.R.

Most Americans are not prepared for the ever-expanding role of science and technology in their daily lives, charges Marye Anne Fox, chancellor of North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Yet the majority of college students take no more than a year of science, math, or engineering. Plenty of students sign up for none of these courses in college, having fulfilled their requirements with classes in high school, notes Fox.

After surveying the situation and its ramifications, a National Research Council expert panel chaired by Fox concludes that colleges need to beef up undergraduate requirements in the scientific and technical fields and mandate that such courses be taken during college.

Too often, the NRC analysis found, students with nontechnical majors lack access to the best science and tech teachers, equipment, and experiences. For colleges to encourage lifelong learning and people's ability to evaluate research findings, nonscience majors need "high-quality, laboratory-rich experiences," the report maintains.

Classes should foster supervised research lasting a minimum of one academic term for as many students as possible, regardless of their career goals, argues the panel.

Finally, the report asks colleges to regularly assess how effectively they're teaching science and technology in light of their ultimate goal: to give all individuals the skills to make technically competent decisions about their health, communities, and economic lives.