Bill Graham has been citing Erskine Bowles on the stump.
At a recent debate in Greensboro, the Salisbury attorney noted that he had heard the University of North Carolina president speak at his swearing-in ceremony. He quoted Bowles saying that the entire system had produced only three physics teachers the previous year.
"We've got to do a better job of that," he said.
Actually, that's underselling it. Bowles said that the UNC system had only produced three physics teachers in the last four years.
The problem is caused in part by the value of a physics degree, explained UNC spokeswoman Joni Worthington. Although many teachers major in education, physics teachers are supposed to major in physics and take education courses on the side.
But, she said, physics majors are in high demand.
"If you graduate with a degree in physics, you can earn so much more in the private sector than you can as a high-school teacher," she said.
Bowles' remarks, after the jump.
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From Erskine Bowles' inaugural address, April 12 2006:
At a time when the world is clamoring for science and engineering talent, about two-thirds of the students in U.S. high schools studying chemistry and physics are taught by teachers who are not certified in the field and didn't major in the subject. Think about this: in the past four years, our 15 schools of education at the University of North Carolina turned out a grand total of three physics teachers. Three. And we're going to compete with these guys in Asia? Come on—not that way.
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Re: What Bowles said about physics teachers
I'm glad to hear discussion about this topic in the gubernatorial campaign. How can physics people not be in demand in the Reserach Triangle area? Well, people have tried to explain it to me, but I still can't accept the basic premises of this employment-demand curve.
A bandmate in one of three groups I play music in here in the Triangle earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of North Carolina in the 1908s. In fact, that's when he met his bandmates and started playing music with us--when he was working on his physics doctorate in Chapel Hill. Then what happens a few years out of the gate?
"Not enough demand for Ph.Ds in physics!"
So our bandmate had to go all the way out to the West Coast to get suitable employment and in fact not even in the physical sciences but rather in computer technology. Fortunately, he can fly back and forth to North Carolina on occasion for special music events and band recording sessions. But we feel it's our loss that he had to move out there. And what a great professor or teacher he would make in a college physics class or a high school science class right here in the Old North State!
Here's hoping Bill Graham will continue bringing attention to these bread-and-butter education issues facing the people of North Carolina. There's too much nice talk about education and not enough shirt-sleeves work on solutions! In Erskine Bowles, the UNC system has a leader with the energy and the commitment to make a difference in improving the ties between public higher education and the North Carolina public schools, so it's up to the rest of us to get in the boat and row a little ourselves to help get the vessel of education across the waters to more promising shores.
David McKnight
Durham