INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS EDUCATION?

Isn't it fair to say that every job requires some education? Some more, some less. The more the education, especially in science and engineering, the higher the pay and the greater the fun and challenge. Many years ago the jobs were not as sophisticated as today and the businesses were not as competitive. Back then much less education was enough. Today it is different. More education is needed.

If you want to make a lot of money in a job that you really enjoy and you are proud of, you need more education. A university education, especially in science and engineering. It is that simple. For example if you want to make a very high salary to have a very good life for yourself and your loved ones, you have to have A LOT of education with a VERY HIGH scholastic average (3.5 GPA or more and ACT of 26-28 or more), not only through high school, but through an additional 4-8 years of very serious studying at a university. You will get a doctors degree in the subject you decided to study. You will be able to have enormous fun and satisfaction saving people, or animals, or discovering fantastic things and you WILL become famous also with your name published in technical journals worldwide.

Can you imagine how much fun it must have been to be on a team that designed or designs the best car, the fastest airplane, a mission to Mars, a revolutionary weapon system, a much better fighter plane than anything today, or a missile system that can shoot down a huge meteor that could wipe out a city if it is not shot down? Each year there are more and more exciting projects. And not enough scientists and engineers for them. Thousands of engineers and scientists are needed to work on each of such project. They cannot talk about it yet, because such projects are a secret, but the excitement must be enormous as you all see a fantastic project come together and succeed from your efforts! Just imagine how exciting all team members must be when such a secret project is finally announced! I would be jumping out of my skin from the happiness and the excitement! However, you need to become a doctor (PhD) in a science or engineering field to be accepted for a job like that. Practically anybody can do it, if you study hard while in school. You will not only have a lot of fun, but they will pay you more than $10,000 each month to have the fun! Man! That is living!! Of course there are even more jobs that are exciting even if you have a four-year degree in science or engineering or any other field. Some don't pay as well as others, but if you are having fun, who cares. But with a high school diploma only, you can get only low paying jobs.

If you don't want to work hard in elementary and high school for 12 years, then that is what you can get only for the remaining 60 or so years of your life. You decide. Struggle for life, or struggle in school only. You will struggle in one of them for sure.

How can we best tell in which job we will be happy and successful? Very good question. This is a very important question because we can become successful only in a job that makes us happy, whatever it is. There is a test, called The Strong Interest Inventory, that can predict that with 100% accuracy, if it is taken after age 17. It has been a very famous test for this purpose for several decades.

As the years go by, we require more and more education in all jobs. In many jobs today, the workers need to get more education every year in order to keep the job. By the way, if you do not study some things hard, your mind becomes lazier, making learning more difficult. Unfortunately this happens to many students. But as you study harder, your mind becomes more flexible and faster, just like it used to be at a young age.

We no longer depend only on the USA. We depend on other countries as well, and they depend on us too. For example, in the supermarkets you can see that some products come from other countries because they can make it better, because they have better materials, and/or better education, and/or better management to make good products quicker and for less money. You see more and more foreign products each year for this reason.

About thirty countries put a much greater effort making their pre-school programs, elementary school and high school education better than ours during the past twenty years. At the same time during the past two decades, we let our education standards go down in high schools, in order to graduate more students and to make the grades look higher. Even the SAT was changed and "dumbed down" in order to not show how high school performance is getting worse and worse. Was this "dumbing down" of our high school systems a smart thing to do? Did that make us smarter and better, or dumber? Our teachers and Boards of Education did not do this. They just went along with it and did not raise the flag. Our state and Federal education departments were the most guilty. But we are all responsible because we did nothing about it to this day. We are destroying ourselves economically, by "dumbing down" our high school performance to this very day, for the past several decades.

As a result, the foreign countries graduate 90%+ from high school, students who get A's or B's in Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus 1, Physics, Chemistry, Geography, Biology and English composition or other languages. We on the other hand graduate on the average only 75% from high school in the USA, with our students having to take ONLY Algebra 1, Algebra 2 OR Geometry, and Biology, in science and math. So these countries passed us as if we were standing still, graduating a much larger percentage of scientists and engineers. All countries need scientists and engineers to design better and less expensive products, and to build things so that they do not fall apart. Most of our students cannot handle college or a university. Most of our high school students cannot even handle jobs for companies that used to hire high school graduates for the same job in the past. This is a major problem in our county, Knox County and nationally. We have been talking about it for years now, but we have not done a single thing about this problem yet. This situation is shameful, it is creating a huge problem, and a very dangerous situation for us. We are destroying ourselves without realizing it. And WE ARE MAKING THE FUTURE LIVES FOR OUR OWN CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN MUCH WORSE BY NOT MAKING SURE THAT THEY ARE GETTING ENOUGH SCIENCE, MATH AND ENGLISH EDUCATION. Some of our students are a bunch of namby-pambies who feel that they cannot do it. They are afraid that they are stupid. They are NOT stupid. But their minds have become lazy. If they do not study things hard and read a lot, but watch a lot of TV instead, their minds become lazier, making learning more difficult. But as they read and learn more, their minds become more flexible and faster, just like it used to be at a young age.

Many of our students do not study enough, and many parents are not making sure that they do. That is a parental responsibility. Many parents, students and even some teachers believe that the student should take Algebra or any course ONLY, because they will need it on the job, so the students ask the parents or teachers "How will I use this on the job?" and the teachers or parents have no answer.

You take math. Why?? Because there is really nothing that you will be able to do without it. Also because you cannot understand and learn algebra, geometry, trigonometry without being very good in math.

And without being able to read, write and speak English very well, you will not be able to learn much and will be working at MacDonalds or in a similar job for life.

To understand Calculus, you need to know English, Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry and Trigonometry very well.

To be able to study many subjects, in any science and engineering field, you have to know Calculus by heart.

So do you see how it works? One builds on the other. One is preparing your mind to learn the other. It is like becoming a great football player. Each year you have to exercise a lot and practice a lot to develop your muscles and discipline. Your mental "muscles" need practice and training as well. It is called education.

And by the way, the students of some 30 countries are graduating more students with higher grades, not because most of our students' IQ is lower. Most of our students are NOT more stupid. Most of our students' mental "muscles" are not trained as well by our schools as their mental "muscles" are. Most of our students are just not working hard enough because our parents and our teachers are not pushing them enough, and are not explaining clearly enough what education really is, and what its results mean to students for the rest of their lives. Most parents and teachers do not have high expectations of the students. You can't blame the teachers. In some of our schools, student behavior is terrible and threatening, because of the way parents brought up some of the children. It is their job to expect great things from the students and to push the students when we get off track. That's how we learn when we are young.

I THINK THAT IF THEY DO NOT DO IT, WE STUDENTS HAVE TO TAKE CHARGE AND SHOW THEM A THING OR TWO, AND PUSH OURSELVES HIGHER AND HIGHER. Like a great football player or any great athlete does. Unless you want to sweep floors for life.

So what is the REAL PURPOSE OF EDUCATION?

Education is the exercise of the mind to prepare our mental "muscles" to handle challenges on the job years later. We do not take Calculus, foreign languages and Physics because we all will need to use it. We need this mental exercise to develop our students' mental capabilities for more difficult courses and finally work, just like increasing physical exercise is needed to develop an athlete. This is a fundamental concept that is not understood yet by many adults and students.
education, EDUCATION, Education, knox county education, KNOX COUNTY EDUCATION, us education, US education, US EDUCATION, HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION, high school education,


THE IMPACT OF FOREIGN PRODUCTS

Have you looked at product labels lately in any store?

We used to see a lot more American products as the best, in other countries as well, a couple of decades ago. I know. I used to travel internationally 80% of my time for three decades.

How about the cars on the highway? We used to see American cars as the best in other countries and in the USA as well more than four decades ago. Then the Japanese cleaned our clock with better, more reliable cars. That takes superior engineering and scientists.

How about in electronics equipment, cameras, TVs, etc.? The same story.

How about in heavy construction equipment? The same story.

And I could go on and on.

This is what happens when other countries graduate more educated engineers, scientists with advanced degrees, business managers, and marketing specialists, IN LARGER NUMBERS than we do.

There are fewer and fewer products that are "Made in USA".

To be fair, products that require a lot of handling as they are made, went to countries whose labor rate is much lower than ours. However, many products that can be assembled with manufacturing robots, for companies that invested in those robots, did not go anywhere, because their manufacturing cost in volume remains lower, than what cheap labor overseas could provide.

Many other countries are becoming much more competitive than we are.

When we buy foreign products, most of that money goes to the foreign country. A lot of dollars have been flowing from America to these other countries for decades. We have been buying more foreign products than USA products for a long time. The term for this is "negative trade balance".

What happens when you buy more from a country than what you sell to that country? You lose more dollars, and you have to borrow more dollars. And that ends up raising the national debt and devaluing the US dollar. Using oil as an example, the dollar devaluation made the oil more expensive, most of which we are buying from foreign countries as well - and some are anything but friends of ours. We have lots of oil under ground and off shore. But our Congress will not allow us to drill because our environmental groups protest against that. One wonders if OUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES are totally blind to our energy dilemma. So we keep buying more of the more expensive oil too, and OUR oil companies raised the gas price. The oil companies are making a bundle with record profits, and the state and federal governments make more in taxes from the high priced gas than ever before. No wonder why they do not want to cap the oil company profits to help us. I think we had better become interested REALLY FAST in why this has been happening, and who we vote for the next time. There are many reasons for the negative trade balance.

The biggest contributor to this situation we are in is lack of PhD level engineering and science researchers as a direct outcome from insufficient high school education, resulting in record low university admissions to engineering and science programs.


MORE PhDs

OUR COMPETITOR COUNTRIES HAVE MORE PhD-LEVEL ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS AS A PERCENTAGE OF THEIR POPULATION, AND THEY GRADUATE MORE OF THEM THAN WE DO IN THE USA. WE NEED TO REVERSE THIS TREND.

Engineers and scientists with a PhD have been trained to do research work. The USA universities train most of them in the world. But more than half are foreign students because our high schools do not qualify them for admission. It is the researchers who come up with new, superior, easier-to-use and more reliable product designs. If a country has fewer PhD researchers in engineering and the sciences, then that country simply cannot respond fast enough to what customers want everywhere on this planet. The countries that have the larger number of PhD researchers, on the other hand, can produce new and better products and can take them to the market faster. The markets all over the world always favor the first better product. They purchase more of them than a similar product coming to the market later. The higher product volume of "first to market" countries reduces the cost of the product, making market dominance possible. It is a very dangerous thing to lose such leadership, and we have lost such leadership in several industries, exactly because of our high school education problem (automobiles, electronics, TVs just to name a few).

OTHER COUNTRIES LIKE INDIA AND CHINA ARE ALREADY GRADUATING 5-15 TIMES AS MANY ENGINEERS AS THE USA DOES. THAT IS A HUGE ADVANTAGE! AND WE ARE DOWN TO GRADUATING THE SAME PERCENTAGE OF ENGINEERS AS COUNTRIES LIKE KENYA IN AFRICA DO. READ THE FACTS IN THIS RESEARCH ARTICLE (http://www.designnews.com/article/ CA6286283.html). The declining high school education is creating this situation, because the less educated high school graduates cannot enter our universities' engineering or science programs without doing two additional years in remedial studies to make up for what they did not learn in high school. You, the parents, are paying for these extra years. This results in a decline in our universities' graduating engineers and scientists who are the output of USA high schools. We are talking about the quality of high school education our children get to be prepared for university education and for better jobs than sweeping the factory floor for a Japanese factory or working at a place like McDonald's. I am afraid that this is what we will see 20-40 years from now unless our high schools match our competitors' high schools in quality of training.

That means a high school curriculum for a diploma that includes A's and B's in Algebra 2, Plane and Solid Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus 1, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. And I mean pure mathematics and science programs, in addition to written and oral communication with excellent grammar.



THE PROBLEM IN OUR HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
Several parents in our county expressed the opinion that when they go shopping, the high school level children cannot do any simple arithmetic without a calculator, like determining the price of an item if it has a 20% discount, or make change when you pay them in cash. Some had discussed this problem with teachers without any sympathy from the teachers. They hesitate to go public for fear of what treatment their children may get from the teacher if this problem is disclosed. If that is how it is, we have to make the educational environment so open that parents do not feel that way. This situation is nothing less than outrageous. I also found that in a North Knoxville factory, American workers need training in simple math, whereas immigrants from some of the worst countries in education, who do not even have an 8th grade education in the home country, can do the math without any problems. I think that this situation is not just very sad, but the calculator-dependence for simple math is both inexcusable and outright damaging for the upcoming generation and our future. Children should be able to use a calculator to check results, but calculators should have no place in tests, and students should be taught to use their head instead. I would like to understand how this calculator-liberal approach came into vogue, and what buzzwords were and are used to sell this absolutely catastrophic idea.

HOW DO WE COMPARE TO OTHER COUNTRIES? Why DOES THAT MATTER?

Standard international tests indicate that our high school science and math scores are as low as 34th in the world today (http://mwhodges.home.att.net/new_96_report.htm). Other test results could show us as being 16th(science)-19th(math) in the world, but these tests exclude many competitor nations that are the very best, for example, Japan, China and India (http://4brevard.com/choice/ international-test-scores.htm). We used to be on top with high schools several decades ago. Each year we slid a little more, and we do not seem to realize the problem. I was totally surprised to learn this myself (SAS.EduKeyToEconCompetitiveness.Jan10.2008.pdf). Some schools may deny it. Some believe that we should not focus on the foreign competitors (well, they are the ones beating us and taking our income away!). Some of us who do not understand the economic problem we are facing may dismiss it as unimportant. I fear that we may react too late.

The following two pages are from the US Department of Education http://nces.ed.gov//pubs2008/2008016.pdf.






The above graphs represent old data (2003, 2006, 2008); but all current indicators seem to show that we have continued the downward trend. I read that around 1995 the SAT was revised to be not as tough as before in order to show better scores. In particular, the education productivity graph is nothing less than shocking. USA high school students have been falling further and further behind other students in the world( http://mwhodges.home.att.net/new_96_report.htm).

The US Department of Education http://nces.ed.gov/ also presents our performance internationally with similar disastrous conclusions using 2003 data. I developed the graphs below from some of their spreadsheets to better illustrate the problem we have internationally. Measuring ourselves in a vacuum does show that we have moderately increased our own performance against ourselves. Unfortunately a large number of our international competitors have improved their education systems while we did not, and passed us as if we were standing still. If we do not change our archaic education system along with improving the curricula, our children and grandchildren will be struggling in an underdeveloped country. THAT must not happen.


Our international competitors' graduation rates are in the 90+% area with several at 100%. We are at 75% with a much weaker curriculum that the graphs below show very clearly.








MOST OF OUR HIGH SCHOOLS (e.g., Farragut HS, the top performer in Knox County) SEEM TO BE ADVOCATING TWO-YEAR COLLEGE OR VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS OR ... NOTHING (e.g., Central HS). A HUGE MISTAKE! A FEW, SUCH AS AUSTIN-EAST MAGNET HS PUT THE RIGHT EMPHASIS ON HIGHER EDUCATION, INCLUDING ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE. But their results are poor unfortunately
Look at the high schools' Web sites. Look at their programs. That is what our high schools are selling, and our students and their parents are buying. Both parents and high school teachers have expectations of our high school students that are too low. This article is a very good overview of the situation: http://www.edin08.com/EdSays.aspx

THERE IS HOPE
The poor (low science and math) secondary school education creates another big problem. Students with the graduate degrees in engineering and science need not be American born if our children are not willing to work hard. They could be immigrants. After all, we are a country of immigrants born of immigrants. American students should remember, as some are finding out, that the students with the advanced (MS or PhD) engineering or science degrees get the most prestigious jobs with the highest salaries; and most American high school graduates, as the high school curricula stand now, will be doing only low level, low paying jobs just out of high school.

On the other hand, if the high school curricula are changed to include all: Algebra 2, Trigonometry, Plane and Solid Geometry, Calculus 1, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and English Composition -- OR IF THE SMART HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TAKE ALL THESE COURSES BEFORE THEY GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL, then they will be able to get jobs that have at least 50% higher pay. We are short on this intermediate level math and science educated talent that local companies would be very happy to have.

THE SAME HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM THAT COMPANIES NEED FOR GOOD JOBS OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL IS THE SAME CURRICULUM THAT TOP HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS NEED TO PURSUE FOR A VERY LUCRATIVE CAREER IN ENGINEERING OR SCIENCE.

I HAVE AN IDEA! THERE IS SOMETHING THAT PARENTS AND HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS COULD DO TODAY. ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT REQUIRED FOR A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA, ENCOURAGE THE GOOD STUDENTS TO TAKE THE MORE ADVANCED COURSES LISTED ABOVE, IF AVAILABLE AT YOUR HIGH SCHOOL. THAT IS AN OUTSTANDING IMMEDIATE SOLUTION THAT COULD SOLVE OUR NATIONAL DILEMMA, STUDENT BY STUDENT, AND COULD PROVIDE A MUCH BETTER FUTURE FOR OUR CHILDREN.

THIS, HOWEVER, WOULD REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT PROMOTION, RE-EDUCATION OF PARENTS AND STUDENTS TO DO IT IN A HIGH ENOUGH VOLUME TO SAVE OUR COUNTRY. A FORMAL PROMOTIONAL EFFORT THAT INTRODUCES GREAT FUN AND CHALLENGING JOBS THAT PAY A LOT MORE. WE NEED THE NEWSPAPERS, TV STATIONS, RADIO STATIONS AND MEDIA ORGANIZATION HELPING US WITH SUCH A PROGRAM.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Private schools are not restricted to operate under the rules of the state or federal government, and they are not unionized. They cost money, but they also have scholarships for good students who have a financial need. The can be worse than some public schools, but some of them could be much better for your child than any public school. The good ones hire better qualified teachers, do not have to keep teachers who are not so good under union influence, and can perform to a higher standard than what the state and federal government defines. Definitely investigate them. For some reference, read http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-025.html, http://www.cato.org/subtopic_display_new.php?topic_id=63&ra_id=3 from the famous CATO INSTITUTE.


OUR TEACHERS AND THEIR CHALLENGES

Are our teachers doing a bad job? Not at all. But the curricula for high schools are not as advanced as in the competitor countries. In addition to our curricula, the competitor countries ahead of us require Algebra 2, Plane and Solid Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus 1, Physics, Chemistry and Biology to be included in the requirements for a high school diploma. In some countries 100% of the students, and in most countries more than 90% of the high school students, earn a high school diploma. We manage only about 75% with the weaker curriculum. Our high school students therefore do not have to work as hard. This is how we started losing the economic battle in a much more competitive world market today. This is why the USA is 34th today. WE MUST CHANGE THIS SITUATION.

TO REPEAT, THERE IS SOMETHING THAT PARENTS AND HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS COULD DO TODAY. ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT REQUIRED FOR A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA, ENCOURAGE THE GOOD STUDENTS TO TAKE THE MORE ADVANCED COURSES LISTED ABOVE, IF AVAILABLE AT YOUR HIGH SCHOOL.


THE BEST SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS IN THE WORLD

The countries below have been among the top ones consistently in the past, as we were sliding down during the past several decades.

It appears as of 7/13/08, that teacher qualification and teacher reputation as the most important vocation is common. Teachers are very highly respected in these countries. They all have a Masters equivalent major in the subject they teach, and the educational institutions all have a matriculation exam covering all subjects studied before, at the end of the 8th grade and 12th grade (last year of high school). Although there is frequent testing to measure progress, the matriculation exam counts for more that all prior tests. None of these countries tolerate any behavior problems or disrespect of teachers. Of all the systems, the one used in Finland is incredibly interesting. They are Number One in the world. Although Singapore is close to the top in any level, they are highly innovative and developed a unique way of teaching math in elementary education (The Singapore Method) that produces very high math results even 4-5 years after it was taught. Countries like Finland have a much more extensive Special Education Program than we do, very closely integrated into the normal curriculum. The results of the special education program are amazing in that the Finns graduate Special Ed students with grades that are very close to normal students, and there are no failures. Remember that these guys are number one in the world using standard international tests, and we are 25th-34th in the world using the same tests, so this is an amazing result with special education.

I would recommend that Knox County study the Finnish method and school system, along with the one in Singapore. As part of this study, I think it would be an excellent idea to send a small team of high school principals, and Board of Education members to both countries to study these two systems, as soon as possible.

OUR UNIVERSITIES IN THE USA


OUR HIGH SCHOOLS PERFORM POORLY AGAINST OUR COMPETITOR NATIONS, YET OUR UNIVERSITIES ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD. (http://www.arwu.org/rank/2007/ARWU2007_Top100. htm)
To benefit our economy the most, the best universities (and the best companies) need to be able to do important research in many fields, with PhD level engineers and scientists on top. Such research work results in discoveries and new designs with patents filed that give us control as a country to manufacture these new products for 17 years. Of the 20 such top universities in the world, 17 are American universities. The only exceptions are Cambridge and Oxford in England and Tokyo University in Japan.

One reason our universities are so great is that they have to compete for your student's dollars. We have seen many times for decades now in the private economy that free market competition drives costs down and quality up. Why not in high schools? We have a desperate situation, and the current system simply has not been delivering. Is longevity the best measure of a worker's or manager's performance? Is it different in teaching? How is a teacher's performance measured? I don't know yet. But in business, we knew. Measurable objectives were/are in writing, and mutually agreed between anyone and his/her supervisor/manager in the best companies. I was born in socialist/communist Hungary and escaped at age 16 in 1956 after a failed revolution. I don't even want to say what I am smelling in our high school education system: Socialist system behavior and a lot of misleading words in objectives like "to instill critical thinking in the student". And no one asks what that means. Before I throw up, just teach them to get an A in Algebra 2, Plane and Solid Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus 1, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. All of them. Then the critical thinking may come after a university education.

Another important comparison that we should look at is how total dollars per student per year, and ACT averages in private high schools, compare to our public high schools. THAT would provide us with some important information. If private schools have higher ACT averages and lower cost per student, as I am reading in some articles, then the subject of VOUCHERS becomes vitally important. But first, I would like to see some cold facts and apples-to-apples comparisons.

A high school graduate can go to any university for which he/she qualifies. It is indeed a competitive world among colleges and universities. A university education is expensive, as much as $40-50K each year. But the excellent high school students, who get all A's in high school and score high on the SAT or ACT, can get a full scholarship so that even the best university can be absolutely free! Now that's a fantastic deal! WHAT A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TODAY! If we could just produce more high school students with all As on the tougher more competitive curriculum.

Our parents, teachers and counselors are unaware of the competitive problem we are facing and looking at their Web sites, they are deemphasizing science and engineering careers. We must correct this situation.

http://www.designnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6286283:
COUNTRY TTL UNI DEGREES ENG. DEGREES ENG.DEGREE % TTL POPULATION
China
567,839
219,563
38.7%
1,330,000,000
Taiwan
117,430
26,587
22.6%
22,921,000
Germany
178,618
36,319
20.3%
82,370,000
Japan
542,314
104,478
19.3%
127,288,000
France
275,316
34,293
12.4%
64,058,000
Ireland
18,669
2,014
10.8%
4,156,000
United Kingdom
274,440
20,280
7.4%
60,944,000
Kenya
15,620
740
4.7%
37,954,000
United States
1,253,121
59,536
4.7%
303,825,000


What is significant is the total number of engineers, not total engineers as a percentage of all university graduates. China has publicly committed to having one million engineers. Data is not presented on India. Their numbers would be just slightly below China, and they have a better educational system than China.

UNIVERSITIES ALSO NEED MONEY TO SURVIVE.
As a result of poor high school student performance, our universities get less money from American students because fewer students qualify for admission, and even of those admitted, fewer students are prepared to do the required hard work. Our excellent universities survive by admitting foreign students who come from a better high school in the foreign country and whose parents made sure that they did their homework and learned to work hard.

Half or more of those graduating with Masters or PhD degrees in science or engineering are foreign students. American companies would love to hire them. But our government in Washington requires them to return to their home country rather quickly (they are not given enough time to find a job), and we lose a lot of powerhouses who would be very important to our companies and to our economy, since our children are not doing it in the numbers that we need. The end result is that American companies become less competitive unless they establish research centers in the countries where those graduates live and work. And there, for each PhD, our companies hire 10-15 more scientists and engineers. So we have been not only exporting factory jobs, we have been exporting incredibly valuable high level jobs as well with our politicians requiring the highest level foreign graduates to leave the USA after they graduated by not giving them enough time to find a job. Remember that these students, although they aced all graduate courses in English, have some problems speaking English, which could be remedied in a year or two. They would need more time to find a job than the 30 days provided by our government. In engineering and science research jobs, where PhDs are needed the most, speaking English perfectly is not as important. At the same time, our Congress allows our borders to be leaky as a sieve to uneducated laborers and criminals to the tune of some 14 million, who cost us taxpayers more than $350 billion per year. That's another important topic called immigration law reform. THAT money could make a huge difference in our education budgets and in our ability to graduate more people with MS and PhD degrees in science and engineering, making us as a nation much more competitive. I am not complaining. I am just pointing out that with reasonable improvements in immigration law and its enforcement, we could free up substantial funds that could resolve our challenges herein described.



OUR TENNESSEE HIGH SCHOOLS

Tennessee is 38th (ACT composite data, (http://www.act.org/news/ data/07/states.html) or 41st (Statemaster data, http://www. statemaster.com/graph/edu_bes_edu_ind-education-best-educated-index ) of the 50 states. LET ME REPEAT.

The USA is more than 16th (SOME COUNTRIES ARE NOT COUNTED IN THIS FIGURE) and most likely 34th or lower in the world in high school education achievement, measured with the same international tests. And Tennessee is 38th to 41st within the USA in high school educational achievement, using the same tests in the USA in every state.

What does that do to the education our children receive in Tennessee compared to the countries whose better products we are buying? THAT IS WHAT COUNTS. We are not on the bottom, but we are way, way, way down in Tennessee. Is it the teachers or the schools or the boards of education? Neither. It is the low curriculum (the subjects that are required for a high school diploma by the State of Tennessee). Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the state decides the curriculum for a high school diploma, based on guidelines from the federal government.

It is clear that we have a huge problem nationally and a bigger problem in Tennessee that must be resolved.

Of the three best high schools in three counties in the Knoxville area (ACT composite measurement, Farragut, Oak Ridge, Maryville),

Knox County's Farragut High School has done a remarkable job. The ACT is the best measure of college/university readiness. Standard & Poors is a high-quality rating service for companies, and now also for high schools (http://www.schoolmatters.com/americasbest). Under the Standard & Poors' evaluation, not even ONE Knox County high school made its top 1600 national list, and less than a handful made it from Tennessee.

KNOX COUNTY'S ROLE IS VITAL:

DEMOGRAPHICS: WHERE IS THE SCHOOL POPULATION GROWING FASTER IN KNOX COUNTY?

The population has increased faster than expected in the West Knoxville area (http://archive.knoxmpc.org/schools/ovcrowd/exec_ sum.pdf). The number of students has increased at a high rate, overcrowding these schools to the extent that the Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission sees us going beyond capacity for high schools alone by as much as 1,273 students in Farragut High School and by 342 students in Karns High School in just a few years (http://archive.knoxmpc.org/schools/ovcrowd/report.pdf). But I am wondering. Don't the demographic studies provide a long enough lead time for the Knox County Board of Education to plan the building of additional space in time to head off overcrowding? Maybe not.


DOLLARS SPENT PER STUDENT - AN IMPORTANT MEASURE? A 10-15% DIFFERENTIAL IS PROBABLY NOT SIGNIFICANT, BUT ONE GREATER THAN 15% IS. KNOX COUTY'S EDUCATION DEPARTMENT IS WAY UNDER FUNDED, AND THE TEACHERS ARE UNDER PAID. ONLY AN INCREASE IN COUNTY TAXES CAN CORRECT THAT. IT IS A GREAT DISSERVICE TO OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN WHEN OUR POLITICIANS DO NOT WANT TO RAISE TAXES, APPLIED TO EDUCATION ONLY, IN ORDER TO LOOK GOOD TO THE PUBLIC, AND LEAVE THIS TERRIBLE SITUATION UNREMEDIED.

Knox County IS under funded (dollars per student per year "ADA") compared to higher performing schools and states. So is Tennessee. Does the saying, "you get what you pay for" apply?

At the same time, our Knox County taxes remained approximately level FOR A DECADE. I need to investigate private high school ACT performance and dollars spent per student ADA to see if the solution is more money or privatization of the education system.

If privatization is not cost effective, then the per-student expense per year needs to go to $12,000-14,000 a year for excellent high school scholastic results. If privatization is not cost effective, then there is a connection between the quality of education that can be delivered at about $7,500, which Knox County is doing, and at $12,500 that the best high school in the USA (Thomas Jefferson HS, Virginia) and other top high schools are able to do. By the way NO PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL is generating nationally outstanding results without additional local taxes, which are much higher than ours.


THE IMPACT OF SCHOOL QUALITY ON OUR REAL ESTATE

Parents, think of your real estate values. Most people who buy a home are vitally interested in how good the educational system is in the area, either because they have school-age children or because they are thinking about resale value. Homebuyers will pay more for a home in a school district where the students are doing a good job. Let me turn this around and say to parents that if your children and their school buddies are not doing well in school, your home's value will go down. On the other hand, if they all do better each year, you will see your home value rise. The family home is the biggest investment for most people. Our current educational situation is good enough for at least a 5% "discount" on our homes. The "quality of education" problem can also raise our real estate values, if WE become one of the best in the nation. It is important enough for people or companies to decide to move here or not. THERE IS NO REASON WHY KNOX COUNTY COULD NOT BECOME THE BEST EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN THE USA. THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO DO IS AIM AT THE HIGHEST COMPETITOR COUNTRIES, MATCH THEIR CURRICULA, AND MOTIVATE PARENTS AND STUDENTS TO WORK HARD.

Please check my conclusions. If I did not make a mistake to a significant degree, then we have a huge problem requiring urgent correction of the high school curriculum to get a high school diploma to meet the level of international competitors in math and science. There are very few things in the county, state and national budgets that are more important than our children's and country's future, if the problems identified continue. If anyone disagrees, I will need comparative proof from a handful of sources, e.g., covering all high schools mentioned. It is expected that anyone will defend their own high school, and I will work with you to present the truth, if we have the same data from other high schools as well.
  • THE BIGGEST DANGER IS THAT IF PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW OR REFUSE TO BELIEVE FOR WHATEVER REASON:
    • that our high school education is falling against the major competitors, and
    • that as a result fewer and fewer students are being admitted to vital university engineering and science programs, especially at the graduate (MS and PhD) level, and
    • that we are losing the engineering and scientific manpower that we need to gain on international competitors,
    ... THEN WE HAVE NO HOPE. NONE.

  • If there isn't enough money (IF THAT PROVES TO BE THE REASON), you cannot have enough of the best teachers; and the quality of education will slide down.

  • If our high schools are overcrowded, the quality of education will slide down.

The quality of education depends to a great degree on the quality of teachers, the financial overhead and flexibility of the education system to change as needed, sufficient funding per student per year and the motivation instilled in every child by parents AND teachers alike to become well educated. IF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IS RIGHT, the bottom line is: If the education money is not enough, then we either supplement it, or our children will get a second-rate education with all its horrible consequences. We do not have magicians in the county education departments and in our schools.

WHAT ELSE IS A CHALLENGE FOR EDUCATION IN OUR SOCIETY TODAY COMPARED TO OUR PARENTS' GENERATION 30-40 YEARS AGO?
To recap, our secondary education is so poor nationwide compared to international competitors that it produces fewer and fewer high school graduates who are acceptable to the hiring companies or who can be admitted to the universities without 1-2 years of remedial classes to make up for what was not covered in our high school curricula, especially for a more difficult and more important engineering or science degree. But let's not blame the schools or the state-prescribed curriculum only. Today the average parent is lax, less demanding, tired from too much work to make more money, and takes the dear child's side when his behavior or performance at school is a problem. Parents, please forgive me, but the teachers are not magicians either. You have a big part to do, and most of you are not doing it.

“Most children do NOT do what you EXPECT, they do what you INSPECT”.

Too many parents do not inspect to see if their children are doing their homework and do not support the teacher. They just believe what the child says. Too many parents cannot help their children because they did not have a good enough education to begin with. You have to accept the teacher's word. He or she is the only hope for your child in most cases. Your child's future depends on his/her schoolwork and the teacher's guidance – unless you want your child to sweep some Japanese factory floor or work at a place like McDonald's. Having a part-time job during high school and having a car is much less important than getting As and Bs for his future wellbeing.

Now you know that our high schools are graduating fewer and fewer motivated high school graduates who qualify for admission to universities or colleges, especially in the vital and well-paid areas of science and engineering. You also know that school overcrowding obviously contributes to this, the quality of school educational standards (expectations from our children) contribute to this, and you the parents contribute the most. Why? Because there are always students from Knox County with fantastic grades who get admitted to engineering or science programs at the very best universities. They worked through the overcrowding and curriculum quality and worked harder and got into less mischief because of their parents, who INSPECTED instead of just EXPECTED good things to happen.

Write to your congressmen and women every month--both state and federal. Email is better than a signed letter because letters have to go through a somewhat destructive security check that can take a month. This Web site is an excellent tool to do just that: http://www.e-thepeople.org/letter/write . It has worked for me very well. To check what your representatives are actually voting for or proposing (useful to see six months after you wrote to them), sign up for "megavote", a service on the same site, when you send your email. You will get emails about how our representatives are voting. It is a real eye opener, let me tell you. Some are very good, and some do -- not much.

Write to the Knox County Board of Education members. Don't just complain. Provide facts recognizing that they do have a tough job to do with limited funds. Go to their meetings and speak up. But first, get educated about what they have to do and with how much money.

EXCELLENT QUESTIONS

Wouldn't it be unfair to require high school children, who want to become English teachers, or follow a vocation with a different liberal arts degree, to take Trigonometry and Calculus for a high school diploma? They will never use it.

Your question relates to what vocation the high school student should follow. If the student's vocational preference study (e.g., the Strong Interest Inventory) definitely points in a liberal arts direction, then I would agree with you. If this study points in an engineering or science direction, then the high school student should take both Trigonometry and Calculus 1 for his/her high school diploma.

I have met too many college students who really had no clue about what profession they should pursue. I have met many adults who had no clue all their life. Some of us may have "known" before age 18 what vocation would make us happy. But do we really know? We don't. We have some idea from books we read, from TV, the movies, or from our parents and friends, but we really have no experience with the job, and we really don't know how well we are suited for that job. Do you the parent want to pay for an expensive college education just to find out that the job your high school student was dreaming about at age 17 is really not suitable for him or her? He or she is bored with it, unhappy with it, and he/she will not be good at the job. To be very good at your job, you have to love it and enjoy it. There has been a way for more than 20 years to make sure that your child will enjoy his/her chosen career. It's called the Strong Interest Inventory http://www.cpp.com/products/strong/index.asp. This is a perfect tool for this purpose to be given at age 18 or above (although now there is a version for age 14 and above with broader guide lines), and it forms a perfect assessment tool if given together with the Myers-Briggs test. I would recommend that after taking these tests it would be very useful for your 18 year old to have an interpretation session with a vocational psychologist. This is the best investment you can make. Many companies also use these tools for hiring the right people for a job and for the promotion of people to management jobs.

Having said that, since the high school student is likely to graduate before his/her 18th birthday, it would be useful for him or her to take Trigonometry and Calculus 1 before high school graduation, if by chance the student is really most suited for an engineering or science career. One of the important reasons for which we go to school, is to learn the discipline of learning hard subjects, train our minds and to broaden our knowledge. Expanding the mind with mathematics, sciences or languages is a great tool. By the way, the engineering and science based jobs are the best paid and most interesting jobs, if one has a high enough IQ, especially if the student pursues a MS or PhD degree in his/her field. We as a country need such students the most.

In the interest of having very successful people in our work forces, I would advocate that the Strong Interest Inventory and the Myers-Briggs be taken as soon as someone becomes 18 years of age. It is the best investment that any parent could make. Then make sure that your child follows these tests recommendations for vocational or college training. Students should feel assured that these tests make 100% sure that they will be happy in the career they have chosen on the basis of the tests' recommendations. And that is the greatest feeling there is.

I just want my child to be happy and have fun. I want my child to have a happy life.

I think that all of us normal parents want that. But how do we ensure our children's happiness all the time. If they have to do something that they do not want to do, they will be unhappy. There must be some priorities that we parents must enforce. That's our job. Children are not ready to make all decisions. But they must be ready to make mostly good decisions and at least be on the way to personal satisfaction in a job after they leave home. That means that you the parent must enforce some rules that will be against what your child wants, and you have to be firm. Not easy to do. Otherwise, you have destroyed his or her life, if he/she is not ready when finally he/she leaves home.

Have your child tested for his/her IQ. I know, we all feel that our children are brilliant. Just get him/her tested, because it makes absolutely no sense for you to push him if his IQ is 80. If he/she has an IQ above 100, then you must ensure that he/she does at least 4 hours of homework while in high school every day (2-3 hours of homework daily in elementary school). Work with him. No TV and no telephone during homework time. And homework starts immediately after school. If any grade is under a B, then he/she needs to do even more homework. Children must understand that school and homework is their job. Set your expectation not too high for them, but high. Our biggest problem today is that we have low expectations of our children. When your expectation of your child, or your student if you are a teacher, or your employee if you are a manager, is low, you can bet your bottom dollar that they will not perform above your low expectations. Guaranteed. I am just suggesting that you seriously think about this.

If you are a single parent, your job is more difficult. It is sad that we have too many of you. However, you made a choice somewhere, you had some fun, sometimes at an early age because your parents were not doing their job, but your child should not be paying for it. You must break this bad cycle somehow. You must make sure that your child is studying, supervised by a trusted adult somewhere. Too many of you do not care enough about your child to do this. You care more about having some fun yourself.

I don't understand why we allow children, who have grades below B's, even one subject below a B, to have or use a car, and have a job, so that they are away from parental supervision. Maintaining A's and B's is a good indicator of our children's focus.

If he/she does something that is considered bad by the teacher, please back the teacher. Be smart. Your children's future depends to a great degree on the teachers. No exceptions. Meet with your children's teachers at least monthly. All of them. It will allow you to be up-to-date on how your child is doing. Waiting for the report card is too late to take any action. The teachers have a difficult job to do, and parental support means a lot to them. They will help YOUR child even more.

Wanting your child to have fun and be happy is not easy. Reward him/her for good behavior, good school grades. Tie privileges, gifts, car and TV use, telephone and game use, to YOUR expected performance from your child. He will negotiate and argue his case better than F. Lee Bailey from an early age. If you fold, if you even argue, you lost him/her. BUT...they will love you for it when they become adults.

It is very difficult to be a parent or teenager today. And to top it off, parenting is an area where we are taught absolutely nothing in High School or college. It is probably the most important job that anyone can have, and we just wing it based on what we all learned from our parents. But I believe that we all do the best we can.

Some Exciting Examples in Engineering and Science Fields

http://ee.eng.usf.edu/WAMI-1/jobs/Engineering.PDF
http://www.ecm.uwa.edu.au/for/prosp/profiles
http://engineering.calumet.purdue.edu/engineering/engineering/blooming_engineering_job_market_27_58.html


"I should have taken more math and science in high school!"



"Allah! I should have taken trigonometry in high school!"
"You mean no more money and girls for me?! This is Ahmed! The Crown Prince!! Your son!!!"