NASA’s rover called Curiosity landed on Mars on August 5. It is now exploring that planet, in a spectacular demonstration of space technology.
Professor Ralph E. Shaffer wondered about the team of scientists and engineers responsible for this great breakthrough. He discovered a website with bios of the 141 people involved.
He wondered, where did they go to school?
This is what he learned:
104 of the 141 were products of American public schools. The others didn’t say where they went to school or went to private school or were educated abroad.
Professor Shaffer thinks this should serve as a rebuke to the reformers who love to decry the quality of our schools.
I wish his discovery would change their minds.
Not likely, considering that one of the loudest critics is Governor Chris Christie. He is a graduate of Livingston High School in Livingston, NJ. He must have really bad memories. Maybe he was bullied.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Of course US citizenship is required for almost all the positions in NASA, so it is not surprising that the international students who make up the vast majority of advanced degree recipients in STEM fields in the US will not be employed by NASA.
OK, TE, I’ll bite, And????
Better said, please provide links for the statement “vast majority of . . . ”
Thanks,
Duane
http://zipcodemars.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
The fact that NASA employees have overwhelmingly been educated in the US reflects NASA policy to employ US citizens and is not evidence about the quality of k-12 education in the US.
Sounds like a numbers guy….I wonder if you ever look at people. Can you relate to students and their questions? Do you get to know them as invdividuals with dreams, goals, strengths and personalities? Can you do anything besides put down education and teachers?
You are giving a bad rap to all economists. Imagine judging all economists by you and your posts. Debbie Downer:
Linda, this was a post about numbers, so thinking about numbers would seem to be appropriate. If it was a post about dreams, goals, strengths, etc, I would not have talked about numbers.
you can always be counted on to rain on anyone’s parade.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-04-06-cover-ceos_x.htm
And in the same vein, many CEOs did not graduate from the Ivies.
I love this story. Featuring the successes of public schools is a fantastic idea. We should have a constant stream of personal stories — a social network site, a video feed website — of them.
I think TE didn’t pay close attention to the article. Professor Shaffer was pointing out that the vast majority of these scientists were educated in PUBLIC, not PRIVATE schools. The point being that the public attacks on education and teachers never mention that schools in communities that have low poverty are actually outperforming schools in other top countries. The myth being perpetuated that our educational system is failing never mentions this. What IS failing is our effort to address the 25% of children in poverty and the incredible inequality of support and resources in public schools all across this country.
He or she doesn’t seem to be able to turn off the filter….he longs to refute any post or opinion. I don’t even know why he would be interested in this blog. Isn’t there an economist blog where he can read and spout?
They would demand evidence Lots of great economists like Krugman He gets it
Diane Ravitch
At the risk of bringing more rain, the post reports that at least 74% of NASA employees had a public education. In the general population, somewhere around 90% of children attended public school in the US. These figures suggest that a NASA employee is less likely to have attended public school than average.
And Linda, I often agree with posts here.
If public education were a disaster, as you seem to think, there would be 0% public school graduates at NASA.
I don’t think public education is a disaster and have never posted anything suggesting that.
My only point here is that the fact that 74% of the people working on NASA’s curiosity rover went to public schools is not very strong evidence that public schools work extremely well because a) for the most part NASA only hires US citizens and b) US citizens overwhelmingly (about 90%, though that figure has gone up in recent years) go to public schools.
What would you think to be an acceptable percentage, TE? 100%? Good luck!
Be careful. You are applying very elementary math to make some generalizations that, given the extent of your research, may not mean a lot. Even on the basis of the limited information provided in the Shaffer article, you cannot justify your numbers. The 104 people who had public school education represents those who provided that information. Apparently some people did not provide their undergraduate schooling in their bios. Finally, if you insist on using the JPL data, you might want to recheck the site. The number of names posted has grown and also includes people from other countries that contributed. I have no idea what the numbers will show, but the point is that public education has allowed a significant number of people to pursue advanced degrees that have allowed them to participate in “groundbreaking” STEM research.
I was not commenting on the original article or the JPL site, I was commenting on the post here. I am using the same figures that the post used, though just a tad of extra information about employment policies and overall public school enrollment. I also know that some did not provide bios, that is why I said at least 74%. .
I don’t think these numbers mean much of anything about the quality of public schools. There is no acceptable or unacceptable number of public school graduates on the staff of NASA or JPL or a university for that matter.