The simple fact is that while most Americans may say that education is important, they do not like it very much. The bright kid is a "nerd." It is the football star who has status, not the valedictorian. The high achiever in a class is considered to be a trouble-maker for the rest. Parents don't like to have to nag students about study.
The negative attitude toward education has an important impact on student motivation. For motivation is not just something that comes from the teacher. It comes from outside the school: from parents; from peers; from the community; from television, books, and newspapers. For more than 30 years, we have been trying to improve science education while ignoring the dismotivating impact of the real world.
Without a massive change in attitude on the part of the American public, not much is going to happen as a result of educational ...
