Throughout the nation's more than 15,000 schooldistricts, widely differing approaches to teaching science and math haveemerged. Though there can be strength in diversity, a new internationalanalysis suggests that this variability has instead contributed to lackluster (平淡的) achievement scores by U.S. children relative totheir peers in other developed countries.
Indeed, concludes William H. Schmidt of Michigan StateUniversity, who led the new analysis, "no single intellectually coherentvision dominates U.S. educational practice in math or science.'' The reason, hesaid, "is because the system is deeply and fundamentally flawed."
The new analysis, released this week by the NationalScience Foundation in Arlington, Va., is based on data collected from about 50nations as part of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study.
Not only do approaches to teaching science and mathvary among individual U.S. communities, the report finds, but there appears tobe little strategic focus within a school district’s curricula, its textbooks,or its teachers' activities. This contrasts sharply with the coordinatednational programs of most other countries.
On average, U.S. students study more topics withinscience and math than their international counterparts do. This creates aneducational environment that "is a mile wide and an inch deep,"Schmidt notes.
For instance, eighth graders in the United States coverabout 33 topics in math versus just 19 in Japan. Among science courses, theinternational gap is even wider. U.S. curricula for this age level resemblethose of a small group of countries including Australia, Thailand, Iceland, andBulgaria. Schmidt asks whether the United States wants to be classed with thesenations, whose educational systems "share our pattern of splintered (支离破碎的) visions" but which are not economic leaders.
The new report "couldn't come at a bettertime," says Gerald Wheeler, executive director of the National ScienceTeachers Association in Arlington. "The new National Science EducationStandards provide that focused vision," including the call "to do less,but in greater depth."
Implementing the new science standards and their mathcounterparts will be the challenge, he and Schmidt agree, because thedecentralized responsibility for education in the United States requires thatany reforms be tailored and instituted one community at a time.
In fact, Schmidt argues, reforms such as these proposednational standards "face an almost impossible task, because even thoughthey are intellectually coherent, each becomes only one more voice in thebabble ( 嘈杂声)."
1. According to the passage, the teaching of scienceand math in America is
A) focused on tapping students' potential
B) characterized by its diversity
C) losing its vitality gradually
D) going downhill in recent years
2. The fundamental flaw of American school education isthat ________.
A) it lacks a coordinated national program
B) it sets a very low academic standard for students
C) it relies heavily on the initiative of individualteachers
D) it attaches too much importance to intensive studyof school subjects
3. By saying that the U.S. educational environment is"a mile wide and an inch deep" (Line 2, Para. 5), the author meansU.S. educational practice ________.
A) lays stress on quality at the expense of quantity
B) offers an environment for comprehensive education
C) encourages learning both in depth and in scope
D) scratches the surface of a wide range of topics
4. The new National Science Education Standards aregood news in that they will
A) provide depth to school science education
B) solve most of the problems in school teaching
C) be able to meet the demands of the community
D) quickly dominate U.S. educational practice
5. Putting the new science and math standards intopractice will prove difficult because ________.
A) there is always controversy in educational circles
B) not enough educators have realized the necessity fordoing so
C) school districts are responsible for making theirown decisions
D) many schoolteachers challenge the acceptability ofthese standards.
