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The
The
It is incomprehensible how American K-12 public school
critics, including politicians and conservative think
tanks, are allowed to get away with the bashing of all
American K-12 schools based on bogus analysis of useless
international tests without serious challenge by an
academically disadvantaged media. Critics of American
public schools use K-12 education as the scapegoat for
all of the social and economic problems of the
The media
and experts the media chooses to quote frequently declare
the following:
1.
American elementary and secondary education is below
the academic level of education in other countries,
particularly in science and mathematics.
2.
The quality of American colleges and universities is
generally considered to be exalted in the world of postsecondary
education.
How could both of these statements be correct? The first
statement is absolute nonsense and the second is absolutely
true. American colleges and universities attract students
from all over the world, particularly in science and
engineering because it is believed that they are the
best in the world. American university students who
primarily come from American high schools that produce
large numbers of bright, innovative, competitive, and
hard working graduates create the high quality of American
colleges and universities. Universities are as good
as their students. Another reason for the superiority
of American postsecondary education is the exemplary
democratic American culture, which is the most competitive
and utilitarian in the world.
American K-12 public education systems get none of the
credit for the
Nobel Prizes in Science –Chemistry, Physics and Medicine
1951 to 2004
The
Top 10 Countries in the World – Nobel Prizes in Science 1951 to 2005
*Includes the remaining countries of the world that won 26 Nobel
Science Prizes
1951 to 2005 Chemistry 13 (13%) Physics 4 (3%) Medicine 9 (6%)
Total 26 (5%)
Nobel Prizes in Science 1901-2005
1901 to 1950 and 1951
to 2005 Nobel Prizes for sciences were awarded as follows:
(Sources:
World of Winners Gale Research, World Almanac 1999,
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel October 2000, 2001, 2002,
2003, 2004, 2005))
The percentage of Americans receiving Nobel prizes in
Science (chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine)
increased from 19%, 31 prizes 1901 to 1950, to 56%,
195 prizes from 1951 to 2005. The Europeans completely
dominated the winning of Nobel prizes for the first
30 years (Germans and British were the biggest winners).
Americans received only 6 prizes in the first 30 years
(Europeans earned 86) and Americans received their first
prizes in Physics 1907, Chemistry 1914 and Physiology
or Medicine 1930. Since 1950 Americans have dominated
the winning of Nobel prizes in Physics and Physiology
or Medicine and have been about equal in Chemistry.
However, since 1980 Americans have won 28 Chemistry
prizes while all of
Critics of American science education have implied that
foreign-born scientists are the primary reason for the
American dominance in science since World War II. That
is not the case. In the tabulations by country in this
study the country designated for the scientist is the
country where the scientific work was done. For example,
Albert Einstein received a 1921 Nobel Prize for work
he did in
The visible quality accomplishments of American scientists
and engineers are recognized throughout the world.
At a European conference for institutional research
held in
The quality of American education continues to improve
as the media berates it based on irrelevant and invalid
standardized testing. Insane is too mild a term for
the standardized testing mania that is sweeping the
My views are based on 50 years of active experience in
American education as an administrator, educational
researcher and a chemist who taught chemistry at the
secondary and university level in the 1950’s and
60’s.
Dennis
W. Redovich, redovich@execpc.com
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