Democrats and Republicans both think it is important that the U.S. is a world leader in science, but most Democrats now think it is losing ground compared with other countries
In this changing environment, Democrats and Republicans continue to largely agree that being a world leader in science is important and government investments in research are worthwhile. But they strongly disagree on whether the country is keeping up with other countries in science, with the share of Democrats who say the country is losing ground in scientific achievements up sharply in the last two years.
This mirrors underlying other partisan differences in attitudes around science we have been tracking for years. In particular, the partisan differences in trust in scientists and the value of science for society are far wider than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. Republicans have become less confident in scientists and less likely to say science has had a mostly positive effect on society, while Democratic views are largely unchanged.
We surveyed 5,111 U.S. adults to understand how they are thinking about the state of science in the U.S. and funding scientific research.
This research builds on our longstanding work studying trust in science and views on the value of science in society.
This analysis covers the publicâs views on the following questions:
Absolutely. And itâs really difficult when many districts wonât allow proper science education at all. We all are going to pay for that as we lag further behind. Science has fueled a lot of our economic growth through exploitation of our various innovations (microchips, computers, the internet, and so much more).
In grad school (30 years ago), the Irish students in our collaboration came out of high school knowing calculus. I didnât get that until a sophomore in college. High school barely got me algebra, and very little geometry (playing with a protractor and compass doesnât really count). No trig at all. And my school district was regarded as one of the better ones in Colorado (at the timeâŚI donât know now).
@1poorguy the data show that you are absolutely right.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a continuing and nationally representative measure of trends in academic achievement of U.S. elementary and secondary students in various subjects.
At grades 4 and 8, the assessment measures five content areas: number properties and operations; measurement; geometry; data analysis, statistics, and probability; and algebra. At grade 12, the measurement and geometry content areas are combined into one for reporting purposes to reflect the fact that most measurement topics suitable for grade 12 students are geometric in nature. Changes to the grade 12 NAEP mathematics framework in 2005 necessitated the start of a new trend line beginning with the 2005 mathematics assessment.
In 2019, sixty percent of twelfth-grade students performed at or above the NAEP Basic level on the mathematics assessment, which was 2 percentage points lower compared to 2015. Twenty-four percent of twelfth-grade students performed at or above the NAEP Proficient level in mathematics, which was not significantly different compared to 2015. Forty percent of students performed below the NAEP Basic level in 2019, which was two percentage points higher than 2015. [end quote]
Anyone who is proficient in 4th grade math will calculate that if sixty percent of twelfth-grade students performed at or above the basic level then forty percent performed below the basic level.
In case the link gets broken, hereâs a paragraph from The Atlantic article:
Five years ago, about 30 incoming freshmen at UC San Diego arrived with math skills below high-school level. Now, according to a recent report from UC San Diego faculty and administrators, that number is more than 900âand most of those students donât fully meet middle -school math standards. Many students struggle with fractions and simple algebra problems. Last year, the university, which admits fewer than 30 percent of undergraduate applicants, launched a remedial-math course that focuses entirely on concepts taught in elementary and middle school. (According to the report, more than 60 percent of students who took the previous version of the course couldnât divide a fraction by two.) One of the courseâs tutors noted that students faced more issues with âlogical thinkingâ than with math facts per se. They didnât know how to begin solving word problems.
Particularly on the extended covid shutdowns, but also in general, the teacher unions need to be held accountable.
I dunno, did teacher unions decide we shouldnât be in the solar business? Did teacher unions cripple the EV business? Was it teachers unions who cut the funding for basic science this year?
I missed where teachersâ unions were cutting the funding for NOAA, NIH, and NASA. Maybe you have a link to those stories?
I canât imagine how teachersâ unions are responsible for cuts to the EPA or climate science programs, nor how they managed to stop stem cell research, but maybe they did and I missed it?
I donât think it was teachersâ unions who cut research funding at universities, was it? I know funding has been frozen for quite a few initiatives, including STEM research, genomic coding, and more. Thereâs a story that the administration has cut funding to more than 1600 research projects for reasons unrelated to the actual research (DEI, other causes) according to a report from the NEA, amounting to $1.5 billion. Did the teachersâ unions have something to do with that?
The Sabin Center says that around $7 billion has been cut from medical research, and even projects which have been restarted because of court orders have been permanently damaged because of years-long trials which had to be abandoned while the issues worked their ways through the court system.
So, if you could, rather than just some broadside âOh itâs the teachersâ unionsâ could you answer these specific instances that I have listed, and explain how the teachersâ unions were involved? Thanks.
You operate from a false premise. First, there is little, if any difference between academic scores of unions vs non-union teachers:
Research on whether academic scores are better in union or nonunion schools shows mixed results, but many studies suggest
union districts may slightly benefit average students with higher test scores, while potentially harming the lowest and highest achievers by standardizing instruction; however, other studies find insignificant or even negative effects , with outcomes often depending heavily on local context, funding, and the specific contractâs restrictiveness, especially in large urban areas.
Second, how do âteachers unionsâ, even going far back, have anything to do with how voters have decided to elect anti-science, anti-intellectual, anti-knowledge politicians? Are you saying that teachers should train the students to elect better leaders? At least thatâs one proposition I can agree with.
When the Supreme Court ended school segregation the racist components of our society, both individuals and institutions (especially but not only racist religious institutions)(e.g. Falwellâs Liberty Baptist Church family empire began with his creating and disseminating the operating manuals for creating de facto segregationist schools) choose to reinforce racism, all while destroying standards in the teaching of math/science over the future of their children and the nation. And of course, cutting funding for anything beyond âreading âriting and ârithmeticâ (Hey, it was good enough for grand pappy and it should be good enough for those kids!) was and remains a fierce platform on âthe rightâ to this day.
I watched the extreme short sightedness, stupidity, and ugliness hit the public schools of Los Angeles, where I graduated High School, and then saw worse in Boston where I went to college.
P.S. The best teachers, holding themselves and colleagues to professional standards and students to the tasks of maturing in knowledge, were almost universally members of the Teachers Union.
Ending racist stupidity was never going to be easy. Much of the chaos and ignorances we are dealing with today go back to ugly racist political manipulations. I see racism in rapid retreat now in most places, but the macro and micro economic costs have been and remain IMMENSE.
What Gh said, plusâŚparents. Ultimately, parents are responsible. Take away the phone, and the XBOX, and whatever other gadgets, and make the kid do the homework. Or donât be surprised if little Johnnie gets held back a year (which schools should do when necessary, instead of just passing them on).
The USA is governed by legislative representatives who are lawyers paid for by corporate donations that build loopholes into legislation for these donors. And any changes to the present system is/or will be vehemently resisted by the corporate world that controls and directs our nation.
China is authoritarian. If the leader is persuaded that China needs a high-speed rail line between A and B, construction begins the next day. California has tried for a couple of decades to run a high-speed line between Los Angeles and San Francisco at great expense and with no results.
China has replaced the US as the dominant manufacturing power, in scale, technology, and efficiency.
