My name is E. K. Fretwell and I am Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, one of the 16 campuses of the University of North Carolina System. A former college teacher I have also served as the President of State University of New York College at Buffalo, a University Dean at the City University of New York and as Assistant Commissioner for the Higher Education of New York State. I served in such elected offices as Chair of the American Council on Education, President of American Association of State Colleges and Universities, Chair of the Board of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, President of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and President of the American Association for Higher Education. I am pleased to have the opportunity to appear before this Subcommittee to testify on the needs for science, mathematics and technology education legislation. I represent the 354 member institutions of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). With a combined enrollment of close to 2 1/2 million students the 354 state colleges and universities of AASCU enroll one out of five of all baccaulaureate degree students in the country. Our institutions play a major role in our nation's science effort. Many students who ultimately pursue advanced degrees in scientific and technical fields received their basic undergraduate training at our institutions. A large portion of the nation's future elementary and secondary school science and mathematics teachers are educated at AASCU colleges and universities. These teachers must be able to communicate the knowledge and skills that will enable youth to live in an increasingly complex and technologydependent society. AASCU institutions award close to one-fifth of the B. S. degrees in engineering annually and over one-third of the B.S. degrees in computer and information sciences. In addition, I am also speaking on behalf of the 21 associations who participated in the development of "Higher Education's Agenda in Science, Mathematics and Technology Education." These associations collectively include the over 3,000 degree granting american colleges and universities who will pay a major role in the economic revitalization and technogical advancement of this nation. Current Nature of the Problem in Science Education The current national crisis in science, mathematics and technology education is a threat to our future economic survival and military security. The dimensions of the problem confronting our nation are broad. For example, o documented declines in student achievement in mathematics standardized college entrance tests have been dropping o a serious shortage of qualified mathematics and science school mathematics teachers being trained declined 77 percent; science teachers being trained declined 65 percent. Some 50 percent of newly employed teachers nationwide are currently uncertified and unqualified to teach mathematics and science. This situation is exacerbated by the rapid departure of trained classroom teachers for better paying jobs in industry; o at least 2,000 vacant faculty positions in university engineering departments. These vacancies have resulted in enrollment limits which, in turn, impede the training of adequate number of B.S. engineers; o the obsolescence of much of the instrumentation and equipment used in college and university laboratories has been well documented; o tens of thousands of technicians openings are going begging even as the national rate of unemployment approaches 11 percent. The Congressional Budget Office projects that new technologies will make three million more jobs obsolete by the end of this century; o secondary students are taking fewer courses in math and science than in years past, and fewer courses are being offered. Half of all U.S. high school students take no mathematics after the tenth grade, while in other industralized nations, particularly Japan and Germany, in creasing emphasis is being placed on science and mathe matics education; o since 1972 there has been a 54 percent decline in the number of Ph.D.'s awarded in engineering yearly to U.S. o Japan, one of our primary competitors in the world market- the number of engineers per 1,000 workers increased by 48 - There is a bipartisan regognition of this growing crisis. President Reagan, in a message to the 1982 National Academy of Sciences Convocation on Science and Mathematics in the Schools, declared; "The problems today in elementary and secondary school science and mathematics education are serious serious enough to comprise America's future ability to develop and advance our traditional industrial base to compete in international market places." The Special Task Force on Long Term Economic Policy of the House Democratic Caucus observed in the report Rebuilding the Road to Opportunity: "in the future, a well-educated, well-trained workforce will be essential to sustained economic growth ... the future will be won with brainpower... The research we must undertake to produce new technologies requires that yet we are not graduating - sufficient numbers of scientists, engineers and technicians." Although there is now general agreement on the dimensions of the problem, there is no consensus on the solution. Constructive actions at the institutional, local, state, and national levels are necessary to forestall a further deterioration. Appropriate Response to the Problem If we are successfully to forestall further erosion within our scientific educational system, we must look for solutions at all levels of government and in partnership with the private sector. The stakes are too high and the consequences of inaction are too great for any institution in our society, public or private, to ignore the current crisis. I believe strongly that there must be a federal-state private sector push for higher levels of achievement in science, mathematics and technology education at all levels. Only will this coordinated effort begin to restore our lagging state of science literacy. The North Carolina experience serves as an important example of how a range of government and private resources have been used to build a high technology base in our state. North Carolina has been successful in attracting high technology industry because we have substantially invested on the state and local level in quality education from preschool through graduate and professional education. Governor Jim Hunt, the recently named Chairman of the National Task Force on Education for Economic Growth, acknowledged the importance of |