The research-oriented colleges and universities that draw upon today's high school graduates to populate their freshman classes are, however, generally blasé about the situation. A great deal of the colleges' efforts are spent in competing for the best of the high school graduates, but they argue that they have no trouble filling their quota of top-grade freshmen. The quality of students, they say, is better than ever. So they conclude they have little incentive to reach back into the secondary schools to influence either curricula or teaching quality.
A recent National Research Council report noted that, in contrast to the late 1960s and early 1970s, when student interest in science and technology was at its lowest in decades, today the interest in engineering as a major is extremely high, and engineering students nationwide are "among the most able in their age cohort." Thus, as has historically been the case, the ...
