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Concern for the performance of American students in math and science, compared to the rest of the world, has become something of a national obsession over the past few decades.

In a recent Program for International Student Assessment report, for example, American 15-year-olds finished 24th out of 29 countries in math literacy. Finland topped the list, followed by South Korea and Netherlands. The U.S. fared better in a 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study test of 4th and 8th grade students, placing 6th of 57 in science.

Almost every educational reform program in this country over a two decade span has pushed for an emphasis on science, math and computers. Meanwhile, some districts across the nation sacrificed civics, history, English and geography.

Oddly, the Boston Marathon bombing drew attention to the result of this shift away from social sciences and the liberal arts. When news organizations reported that the accused culprits were of Chechen birth--meaning from Chechnya--a storm of social media posts and other commentary directed antipathy toward the Czech Republic.

The volume was so loud, Czech ambassador to the U.S. Petr Gandalovic issued a statement to quell the Internet assault on his country.

“The Czech Republic and Chechnya are two very different entities,” he said. “The Czech Republic is a Central European country; Chechnya is a part of the Russian Federation.”

When they consider the Czech Republic at all, many Americans refer to it as Czechoslovakia--apparently ignorant of the fact that the Czechs and Slovaks split peacefully in the “Velvet Divorce” of the mid-1990s. But this lack of global knowledge is somewhat understandable. Some flirted with the idea of electing Herman Cain president, a man infamous for his “when they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan, I’m going to say, ‘you know, I don’t know.’”

An understanding of geographic, history, political science and other such subjects are critical for residents of a nation that engages the world in business and foreign policy. They should never be sacrificed to in the necessary rush to keep up in math and science.

 

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