Math And Science

Recognizing the critical need to boost math and science test scores, the Los Angeles Unified School District has taken several steps -- including offering bonuses -- to attract and keep teachers in those fields at the district's neediest schools. The move, which took effect this month, comes at a time when the consequences of students falling behind their peers in an increasingly globalized economy are being widely acknowledged. With about 6.

Re "Bush Lays Out His Plan to Protect America's Economic Standing," April 20 How ironic that President Bush is going through the motions to improve education in math and science when he and his administration so routinely ignore the work of mathematicians and scientists, from the predictions of the effects of a hurricane hitting New Orleans to the mounting evidence of global climate change. Bush is quoted as saying, "There's no telling what's going to come out of this." Whatever comes out of new research, Americans can be sure that Bush will fail to take a leadership position in converting to alternative energy sources, and he won't pay any attention to research results if they don't suit his own agenda.

A year ago, President Bush's top domestic priority was a Social Security overhaul. It sank amid a partisan firestorm. This year, in contrast, his new American Competitiveness Initiative is triggering a stampede of bipartisan support. It could be one of the few administration initiatives to be enacted in this congressional election year.

Seeing a tray of fleshy, blood-encrusted pig hearts for the first time, Justice Shank and Ashley Cano screamed -- in total delight. "Blood! Hearts! This looks like fun!" said Justice, poking at a pink, grapefruit-sized blob through surgical gloves. "Look at all the arteries." Ashley cupped the porcine organ to her chest in a swoop of pretend sadness. "Hey, hey, don't stick your finger in my heart," she said. "You're going to break it!"

Re "Let's Shoot for Quality Teachers, Not for Mars," Commentary, March 7: Poor Margaret Wertheim. Either she's never been a child or never had a dream. Kids don't go into science and math for money, knowledge or power. They go into it for a dream, for novelty, for excitement -- for learning. Scratch any scientist or engineer (like me) and ask how or why they got into what they are doing. The answer invariably will be "because I love it, it's exciting." Well, if you take space exploration and "the unknown" away from view, no kid will put up with learning differential equations, much less times tables, as part of a boring exercise put together in some bored of education conference room.

True story: A distinguished Harvard professor suggests that women may be innately less capable of scholarship at the highest levels and asserts that the pursuit of an academic career will cause a woman's body to shunt blood away from the uterus toward the brain, rendering that woman "irritable and infertile." A flurry of press coverage ensues. The professor in question is Edward Clarke, who in 1873 published "Sex in Education: or, a Fair Chance for the Girls."

Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers apologized late Wednesday for his remarks last week suggesting that innate differences might make women less capable of succeeding at math and science than men, and acknowledged that his comments sent "an unintended signal of discouragement to talented girls and women." In a letter addressed to "members of the Harvard Community," Summers said: "I deeply regret the impact of my comments and apologize for not having weighed them more carefully."

Miguel Moreno can't make it across the Trade Tech campus without bumping into the fruits of his relentless enthusiasm for math and science at the Los Angeles college better known for vocational programs like auto tech and fashion. In a courtyard on a typically busy day recently, Moreno runs into a fellow faculty member and quickly discusses plans for a fundraiser, featuring Argentine guitarists, for his science students' programs.

Before the eggs dropped and balsa wood planes glided, a group of students from Nightingale Middle School kicked off Saturday's math and science competition by recounting to 400 students their recent trip to Sacramento to protest Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to cut funding for outreach programs like theirs. At the microphone, Michelle Tran, 14, asked how many were participating in the Math, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) finals for the first time. About half stood.

For Rockwell Scientific Co., hiring the best talent is a matter of corporate survival. Chief Executive Derek Cheung says he simply can't find enough professionals in the United States with the highly specialized skills to produce the sophisticated sensors and other high-technology products the Thousand Oaks company makes. And he says changes to a foreign worker visa program threaten the ability of Rockwell Scientific and other U.S.