2027: A Country Left Behind?

In 1983 when Ronald Reagan was still in his first term, the Department of Education issued a scathing report called “A Nation at Risk” on the state of public education.

Twenty-four years later, I would argue our nation is still at risk particularly in how our country teaches science, technology,engineering and math (STEM).

Welcome to my first blog post, “2027: A Country Left Behind?” Several comments about the title. First, I am parodying the title of the current, controversial education initiative called “No Child Left Behind.” Second, I have assigned a subjective date to this post. More on that later. Third, and possibly most important for you, the reader and community I hope to build around this topic, the title comes with a question mark.

The discourse from you should answer that question loud and clear.

Why 2027? Rachel Carson penned the seminal book on the environmental movement called Silent Spring in 1962. I would argue it took 44 years until the Academy Award winning documentary by Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, woke up the general masses to the “pain” of negligent environmental policy. Add 44 years to the Department of Education “A Nation at Risk” and viola you arrive at 2027, the year I predict the general American public will realize the country has a huge education problem facing it in tech ed.

Some have labeled the way we teach science, technology, engineering and math in America “the silent crisis.”

This blog hopes to add a few decibels to the debate on the topic.

I have much to share with you but for now I would like you to comment on my thesis.

Does the United States have a “silent crisis” on its hands? If so, why? If not, why not? Is my 2027 prediction too conservative? Or will the realization happen sooner?

If you are of the opinion this is a crisis, I would be particularly interested if you could think for a moment before you post your comment to share with the community what you think the “face” – i.e., the symptoms  – of the crisis are, and what “pain” (lower productivity, higher national unemployment, reduced national pride) will result from the crisis?

That should get us going.

One last request: A good portion of visitors to CIO.com are from outside the United States. Your comments are very welcomed but please identify yourself as such. 

As The Black Eye Peas song says, let’s get the discussion started.

Cheers,

Gary Beach

Publisher

CIO Magazine