…According to Captain Kirk on Stardate 3259.2 (“The Gamesters of Triskelion”). If he’s right we face significant challenges according recent evaluations of U.S. schools.

In 2011, SAT scores in reading and writing have gone south like never before.
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For example, according to The Space Foundation the situation is simple.

The basic problem is that the U.S. education system is not producing students in quantity and at a level of achievement to be globally competitive.” This is because of “declining interest and achievement in the math, science, and technology subjects that are critical to the space industry.

This is reminiscent, as we’ve pointed out previously (See #4), of the declining U.S. educational situation in the 1950s, just prior to the surprise Soviet launch of the first satellite Sputnik. This “Shock of the Century” was a game-changer for K-16+ education in the U.S., and we may currently be reliving key elements of this 1950s chronology.

While math scores have plateaued over the last decade, the even more fundamental reading and writing SAT scores of the graduating class of 2011 have set new lows. According to the College Board, which runs the SAT, the average reading and writing scores were “the lowest ever recorded,” (Wall Street Journal; S. Banchero, 9/15/11).

Of the 1.6 million high school seniors who took the SAT this year only 43% achieved scores high enough to indicate they were likely to succeed in college. This mirrors the concern about student achievement generated by the other college entrace exam, the ACT, which showed that only 25% were ready for the academic rigors of college.

At the precise time the importance of a college degree is increasing, the ability of the U.S. to compete in a global economy is decreasing,

concluded Jim Montoya of the College Board.

The retired chair and CEO of Lockheed Martin, Norm Augustine, agrees. But surprisingly his emphasis is not on math, reading, or writing. It’s on history, the subject on which current American high school seniors do worst, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (Wall Street Journal, 9/21/11).

Augustine faults the “rote memorization” used by some history teachers as a large part of the problem and contends that poor history performance “puts American employers and America’s freedoms in a worrisome spot.”

A failing grade in history suggests that students are not only failing to comprehend our nation’s story and that of our world, but also failing to develop skills that are crucial to employment across sectors.

These include critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and communication. Importantly, students who develop skills in these areas have a much higher probability of being employed and also “tend to perform better in science and math.”

21stCenturyWaves.com agrees because the likely directions of our Star Trek-like future are best revealed by historical patterns in the economy, technology, and geopolitics over the last 200+ years.

This morning Real Clear Politics featured an important piece by Salena Zito of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on parallels between the great 1890s recession and our continuing economic problems.

According to Zito, Michael Genovese, a political science professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, believes that the financial Panic of 1893 and the wave elections of 1884 to 1896 are “eerily similar” to the Panic of 2008 and the great recession that began in 2008.

Ironically, establishing a parallel between a disastrous 1890s recession and today would potentially be good news because of the story’s happy ending.

At the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 — the year of the financial Panic — was Charles Ferris making an economic point with his first Wheel? For example, ‘Things that go around, come around…’
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in October, 2008, I noted the exceptional prosperity and ebullience that followed the great 1890s recession:

Although the Panic of 1893 began about 10 years before the opening of the 1903 Adm. Peary Maslow Window, the 1903-1913 decade featured exceptional ebullience, including the daring, world-famous races to both N. and S. poles, and construction of the greatest MEP of the last 200 years (until Apollo): the Panama Canal.

And on April 23 I felt something eerie going on too.

This political situation is eerily reminiscent of the Great 1890s Recession that followed the financial Panic of 1893, and the challenges of President Grover Cleveland.

As the issue of a “double-dip” ascends again, I noted in January, 2011:

Three years after the Panic of 1893 — about where we are now in January, 2011 relative to the Panic of 2008 — the second contraction of the 1890s Great double-dip Recession occurred. This may mean we’re either luckier or smarter than folks one century ago.

Or it may mean we’re not out of the woods yet.

According to Zito,

Both eras feature … fiercely competitive and highly partisan elections, an ineffectual and seemingly corrupt government, and an angry, disillusioned electorate.

Hugh Rockoff, an economist with Rutgers sees stronger parallels with the 1890s than the Great Depression.

I think the analogy between the 1890s and today is better than the analogy with the Great Depression … that we often focus on. One of the many similarities is the real estate crisis. There was a subprime mortgage problem in the 1890s that was very similar to what precipitated the recent crisis.

In any case, the U.S. continues to have one of the most technologically advanced workforces in the world, with the potential to move rapidly once the current self-inflicted barriers to action are removed.

It’s likely that during the next year or so the political realignment that began in 2008 will continue to set the stage for a renewed burst of economic and social dynamism by mid-decade.

This is an updated end-of-August list of our readers’ favorite posts, based on the number of times each post was visited during the times indicated below. The lists below include both Daily Wavelet posts and State of the Wave posts.

Timeframes of the readers’ lists below are: I) Favorites during August, and II) Favorites during the Last 90 days.

To see readers’ favorite posts for each previous month, click HERE.

The lists below give only the top 5 favorites in each category in order of reader preference.
All posts below are clickable and their publishing dates are given.

Updated 9/1/2011

I. AUGUST — Readers’ Favorites

1) The Allure of Moving to Mars Points to the New Space Age — 10/30/10
2) 10 Lessons the Panama Canal Teaches Us About the Human Future in Space — 5/18/09
3) Gliese 581g and “100%” Ebullience About Nearby Space Aliens — 10/02/10
4) Phobos — The Key to the Cosmos? Just Ask Russia and China! — 3/27/10
5) A Major Economic Boom by 2015? … The Lessons of Cleveland, Roosevelt, and Obama — 7/31/10

II. THE LAST 90 DAYS — Readers’ Favorites

1) 10 Lessons the Panama Canal Teaches Us About the Human Future in Space — 5/18/09
2) AIAA — Analyst Predicts New Space Age Coming Soon — 6/30/11
3) Happy Fourth of July — Independence Day! — And Readers’ Favorite Posts — June, 2010 — 7/04/10
4) The Allure of Moving to Mars Points to the New Space Age — 10/30/10
5) 10 lessons JFK and Apollo Teach Us About Ebullience and the Coming Boom — 6/26/11