I teach engineering at Ohio State University, and I see the consequences of America turning its back on its gifted kids every day. The grades in my classes (and those of my colleagues) typically fall into two groups: the kids who were educated in Catholic (and rarely, private) schools, and everyone else. Sadly, a lot of kids have been handicapped for life because they came from public schools where most of the resources go to the kids most at risk. This is understandable, but as a nation I think we're making choices that are already coming back to haunt us.
I spent yesterday evaluating applicants for our graduate program. Out of 15 applicants, five were from India, two were from Taiwan, and the remainder were from China. At Big Ten universities, the percentage of international students in graduate programs in science and engineering is typically over 80%. Our kids simply cannot compete at this level. When I read the apps from the Chinese students, it's clear that they've been engaged in activities like building robots and competing in science fairs since they were 10 or 12. How many gifted American kids get these kinds of opportunities?
Several years ago I had a very bright young African American woman in one of my classes who came from one of Cleveland's dysfunctional high schools. She told me that she never saw a Bunsen burner in operation until she came to Ohio State, because the school had no money for chemistry lab - instead of lab, her chemistry class did worksheets. In Ohio, at least, this is not a problem confined to the inner cities, either: the schools in the Appalachian third of Ohio are in equally bad shape. We very rarely see any students from the inner cities or from Appalachia in the college of engineering here.
The Republicans who run Ohio are quite comfortable with the situation as it is, because their kids typically go to private schools. I'm convinced our friends on the right see education as a zero sum game, so by disadvantaging other kids, they help their own. I fear that those of us on the left who only worry about the kids at the bottom of the pile ignore the fact that by doing so, we've driven a lot of parents (who are also voters) away from public schools, and into the arms of the right. When I see my own school district refusing to create more magnet schools focused around science and math, I'm just baffled....especially when they complain that they're losing their best students to charter schools.
Personally, I would love to see an honest open debate about education within the Democratic Party, but I don't expect it, because it would involve challenging some long-held, and much cherished notions of "equality". In truth, unless we once again take seriously the task of educating every child to their maximum potential, we're really endangering their future and our own. 
An uneducated populace is much easier to sway, as we saw in last year's election. The Republican assault on science and the ability to sway the voting public by fear are directly correlated to the level of education, and we ignore this simple fact at our peril.

Posted at December 28, 2005 7:25 AM in response to Gifted Children Left Behind?