High School Science Gets Serious

There's been a great deal of talk about the deplorable state of science education in the U.S., and based on frightening reports like the federally-funded "Gathering Storm", we have reason to be worried. But that doesn't mean all kids are getting short-changed.

The New York Times has an interesting piece on a high school in San Francisco that offers no less than five classes on biotechnology. That's right. Not biology. Not technology, but biotechnology. In my high school technology class, we talked about the plow and worked with band-saws.

Anyway, the article reveals that there's another side to all the bad news with science and engineering in the US: enrollment in advanced classes has been booming. But this sort of advanced education isn't going to be available to everyone. The biotech lab in that SF classroom has more than $500,000 worth of equipment.—Gregory Mone