At the Back of the Pack

In the Wall Street Journal, three education experts discuss why American students don't match up with students from other developed countries in math and science. Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, says that K-12 education needs teachers who did well in math and science. "Those countries that are doing best are recruiting their K-12 teachers from the top third of their college graduates. America is recruiting our teachers generally from the bottom third," he says. Amy Gutmann, the president of the University of Pennsylvania, agrees. She says that to compete with Chinese and Indian students, Americans need to recruit the best teachers. Finally, Christopher Edley, the dean of the law school at the University of California at Berkeley, adds that how curriculum is determined — currently by local school boards — needs to change for current goals to be emphasized.