An article in The New York Times in 2008, citing a study entitled Cross-Cultural Analysis of Students with Exceptional Talent in Mathematical Problem Solving, says that US high-school students, especially girls, are falling behind the other countries in math skills. The main reason is that American culture does not highly value talent in math.
“We’re living in a culture that is telling girls you can’t do math — that’s telling everybody that only Asians and nerds do math,” said the study’s lead author, Janet E. Mertz, an oncology professor at the University of Wiscosin.
“Here everybody plays baseball,” Dr. Feng (New Hampshire) said. “Everybody throws a few balls, regardless of whether you’re good at it, or not. If you don’t play well, it’s O.K. Everybody gives you a few claps. But people don’t treat math that way.”
“There is something about the culture in American society today which doesn’t really seem to encourage men or women in mathematics,” said Michael Sipser, the head of M.I.T.’s math department. “Sports achievement gets lots of coverage in the media. Academic achievement gets almost none.”
[My comment: Why US universities are very strong in math then ? The reason may be that the US "imports" excellent mathematicians and students from around the world. But when that import flow stops (because the other countries, including even China and India, are starting to fight for math talents), the situation may change]
Recent Comments