Intel science awards don't tell full story
Santhosh Narayan, left, of Munster, Ind., Sonya Prasad of Roslyn Heights and Nikhil Mehandru of Roslyn each won $10,000 in the 2010 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. Credit: Charlie Archambault
In lauding the three exceptional students, Jennifer Wheary missed the big picture of what goes on with Long Island's 124 school districts ["U.S. lags in science - but not on LI," Opinion, Dec. 10].
Unfortunately, Long Island's story is not about the few districts that have been able to produce terrific students. Our school story is about how we have structured ourselves to maintain separation by race, by class, by ethnicity; it is the story of how opportunity is selective and if you happen to live in a school district that provides superb science education, you are one of the FEW lucky ones.
We recently analyzed Intel winners over a period of 10 years and found that 20 percent of the semifinalists in Intel's talent search came from Long Island schools - but half of them came from just seven districts. Seven out of 124. That's not a regional trend.
Long Island, just like the United States as a whole, still has a lot to do to provide high-quality science education to all of our students.
Ann Golob
Editor's note: The writer is the director of the Long Island Index, sponsored by the Rauch Foundation.
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