Is Dr. Kaku right about the US education system? What does this mean for public understanding of AGW?

Yes, Dr. Kaku is correct about our educational system, but not for the reasons he believes.

I was in school during the 50's and 60's. The science was not only available, but we were also encouraged to learn it. I was taught evolution and the school and students still observed the religious holidays. Science and religion coexisted during my educational years.

Since my school days there has begun a sea change in our educational system. Teachers are no longer allowed control of their classrooms. Science in the schools have started bend to the influences of religion and politics. We now have a political party that has begun to eat its own if the individual supports the science behind the AGWT. Religious leaders that try to use literal translations of the Bible disavow any of the science that contradicts the literal translations of the Bible. This has come to such extremes that the Texas Republican Legislative leadership has banned the teaching of critical thinking or of anything the parents may find confrontational to their teaching of their children. There is no Republican candidate that can say they agree with the AGWT that will receive the support of the party leadership. Quite the contrary. Any Republican candidate that claims they support the AGWT will be attacked by the leadership during their campaign and the leadership will try to defeat them the election. There are cases of this happening. So, the problem does not rest with the schools or the teachers or with a student's ability to learn. The problem is with those that wish to control the curriculum being taught. Public schools are being de-funded to the point to where they are more subject to private sector controls and influences. Private schools are being favored to replace public schools. Private schools will be forced to cater to these political and religious influences or they will be by-passed by the ones more willing to do so. ..... It is not the schools. It is the ones that are wanting to control the schools.

In part. He is focusing on foreign born students, talking about the high percentage of them in Phd programs in the U.S, why they leave the country after they get their educations and how this is impacting our ability to compete in creating new industries.

He may well be very correct in his assessment of one part of the issue, but the problem is far more complex than that. Several other respondents have identified other elements, but the question I would ask is why the percentage of foreign born Phd students is so high, not whether or not they leave-regardless of why-after they get their diplomas.

One of the problems is that the U.S. public education system is geared toward maintaining support of the existing/emerging mass infrastructure and preparing the average person to earning a living working in it. We're going more to a service economy so there is more emphasis on careers like food service and hotel management, mid range medical careers like nursing, teaching and other jobs. Aptitude test results in secondary education reflect this. It is difficult for students who are gifted in particular areas to rise above the average educational opportunities and expectations offered and prepare for advanced education. Kids might say they want to be doctors, astronauts, engineers but when they get beyond their high school years and into college they aren't prepared for the advanced level educational requirements and too often fail.

There is a huge gap between the expectations of the first 12 years of education and that which follows. Each generation-at least since WWII-demands more of the educational system but contributes less individual effort. It's not a liberal or conservative thing and this is one of the perception problems that exacerbates the situation. Both sides takes turns undermining the credibility of the other by pointing fingers and placing blame for the inadequate preparation of their own children for the future. Some decades ago it was the demand that education be made more 'relevant.' Most recently it is the anti-intellectualism movement that distrusts whatever higher education offers. We think-in many if not most instances-that sports are more important than academics in public education...a new football field is built but textbooks published in 1979 are still used in the classrooms and nobody notices or thinks there is anything wrong with that. A kid is failing a class and the parent, rather than helping the student or getting tutoring, goes in and rips the school for failing him...the school caves and slips him or her by, and the teachers who demand the most find themselves out of a job if they don't tailor their teaching and grading system to pass rather than fail underperforming students. Parents don't take their kids to Church, demand that the schools provide the religious education that they want, and then get angry when their children fail morally or don't have the values that they themselves are responsible to teach; they call it 'indoctrination.'

And then we act surprised when our public educational system, over four or more decades does not prepare our children to compete in the adult world by being ready to move on to higher levels of education. We've abandoned our role as parents and demanded that public education pampers our children and passes them regardless of their performance, put far more emphasis on things other than academics, and then when our kids end up working at convenience stores complain about the failure of public education and villify those who have achieved higher levels of education.

That's why the public does not understand AGW.

He is right that foreign students are a great resource, although I think there are a tremendous number of very bright Americans, too. We need to encourage both foreign and domestic scientists and engineers to stay in the US. If people think that it is guaranteed that American scientists and engineers will stay in the US, they should think again. There are more and more opportunities overseas for bright people.

I don't think this means much for public understanding of AGW, though. That problem is rooted in poor elementary and secondary school education in science, along with a political system where roughly half the politicians are ANTI-science. When the Russians launched Sputnik it was seen as a wake-up call on America's programs in science and technology (rightly or wrongly), and enrollment in fields like physics boomed after that. Since then there has been a long decline. We need a society where scientists are revered and not reviled.

Public schools are failing to educate our children

<<Is Dr. Kaku right about the US education system?>>

Umm, the fact that "Dr." Kaku, who believes in all sorts of nonsense is commenting on the educational system is funny. Even the name his book "The Physics of the Impossible" indicates what a clown he is--"physics" and "impossible" are mutually exclusive. He apparently was trying to say "the physics of what you might naively think is impossible", but the education system failed him.

the deemphasis of critical thinking skills is the dumbing down of America to avoid any controversy in schools. the idea is to pass all students. not to educate them. it,s a reflection on the low standards of the parents.

Without seeing the specifics, the U.S. education system is a scandal. Not disputable. One of the symptoms of this is in the failure to see the now years old solution:

"If man-made global warming was taken seriously by its supporters they would advocate genuine solutions such as adding small amounts of iron to the oceans to cause the microscopic plants to multiply and absorb the carbon dioxide back into the biosphere whence it originally came.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_fertil%E2%80%A6

A solution both practical and inexpensive.

Failing that, they would advocate replacing the base load electrical power generation with mass produced nuclear power plants as one of the quickest, cheapest and most effective means of reducing carbon emissions.

If its supporters don't take it seriously, why should anyone else?"

There are more examples. Recycling carbon rich material should now be an environmental sin. Landfilling is a form of carbon sequestration after all.

If you want to believe we are educating all the scientist in America (where we have the worst education system in the world) and shipping them back to there home countries.

I have the worst sewage system in the world set up in my neighborhood, it's where all the affluent people come and live.

Dr. Kaku's argument has some validity. However, he states that these H1Bs come over here and get educated then go back home with all that knowledge that they learned HERE and that proves that OUR educational system is bad? Then why would anyone want to come here for an education. Just take the short cut and stay in China or whatever and get a good education.

All that shows is that our lower educational system is not doing its job. We are filling the young people with political crap disguised as science. You can bet China or Japan is not wasting students time with filling them with communist AGW propaganda. They are there to learn SCIENCE not unprovable theory such as evolution, global warming or to sing UM- UM- UM BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA. They are there to learn. Our lower educational system is there to indoctrinate not to educate.

We have an educational system where a lot of graduates from high school are functional illiterates but they know where to go for a welfare check and where to put an 'X' on a Democratic candidate. That is what our educational has come to and it shows on a global scale.

The sad part about it is that our government is dumbing down our students to get a vote and we are paying for it both financially, politically and educationally.

EDIT: David< it,s a reflection on the low standards of the parents.> Are the parents having our children chant, "UM- UM- UM BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA!" Are the parents wasting valuable time teaching AGW? Are the parents wasting valuable time teaching Evolution? (Just so you know. Don't anyone twist my words around and say I am for teaching creationism. I m for teaching neither. Teach pure science so the students and make their own mind up from unbiased information.) Are the parents withholding true scientific information from the students? Are the parents demanding that AGW be taught in an English or Geography class?

What David proving is sick thinking. It is a cop out symptomatic of weak minded people who can't take responsibility. The parents feed, clothe, and provide a home life for the children. That is not easy or cheap in this day and age. They send them off to school and the children aren't theirs anymore. They hand them over to teachers who have various thought and morals then hope they get their children back at the end of the day better than when they sent them out. Do you really think they came back better when they were forced to worship our President? Did that enhance their education in any way shape or form? And yet you blame it on the parents. I come from a family of educators and some had this crooked idea and they had to in order to keep their jobs. The Department of Education has never educated anyone, is expensive, pushes agendas rather than education and is totally worthless in education but not in propaganda. AND YOU WANT TO BLAME THE PARENTS!?

Michio Kaku says a lot of things.