Billionaire Aims To Solve A Math Problem

(CBS)  Can America compete with China and India when fewer and fewer of our students graduate with math, science and engineering degrees? Jim Simons sure doesn't think so — and if he's worried about it, you probably should be, too, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric reports.

"We have an economy that's dependent on technology, and we don't have a domestic workforce who's prepared," Simons says. "Fewer and fewer people who know math and science, teach math and science."

Simons likes his job as head of a hedge fund called Renaissance Technologies. The world-renowned mathematician-turned-college-professor-turned-billionaire businessman is still passionate about numbers.

To pass the time, Simons has been working on a math problem over the past couple of years.

"It takes a couple of years to solve a good problem," he says.

If he hasn't figured out how to solve that problem, he does think he's got the equation for getting more math teachers into New York City public schools: Find college graduates who love math, pay for them to get their master's degrees — and in addition to their regular salaries, pay them as much as $20,000 more a year.

"We don't want volunteers. We want people who will be committed to be a professional in this field and stay there," Simons says. "A $20,000 bump is not all that much money — but on the other hand, it's meaningful, and it makes people feel recognized."

Simons' organization is called Math For America and he put up almost $50 million of his own money to start it back in 2004. The goal is to get 400 highly qualified math teachers in the classroom by 2009.

"I've made a lot of money and had a very interesting life, so for me, to make a modest contribution of time and money to try to get things turned around doesn't seem very surprising," Simons says.

He says his organization is bringing in 50 people a year to become teachers. "These are guys who graduated from MIT and Harvard," Simons says, adding that half are women.

Melanie Smith is one of those women. While most of her friends from Columbia University pursued careers in finance, Melanie, who majored in math, started teaching.

"I really wanted to do something when I graduated that had a tangible effect on where our country was going, and I felt teaching was the most powerful way to do that," Smith says.

Simons says that "without question" if something isn't done, the United States will lose its position in the global economy "because it's the intellectual power of America that gives us the potential to stay in front.

"At a certain point, we will not be able to maintain our innovative edge in an increasingly scientific and technological world," Simons adds. "And we'll be left behind."

Not if Simons has his way. He says we can stay on top if we invest in American brainpower by hiring teachers who can ignite the imaginations of the next generation of math lovers.

[acko1168]

Even if paying higher salaries to teachers is the solution to the problem, where does anyone suppose the money would come from?

When schools try to get Bond proposals passed, oftentimes, voters shoot them down because they're afraid they'll have to pay more taxes. Many times these voters may be older and no longer have younger children in school, or those who don't have children. Even when the Bond proposal promises no tax increase, there is difficulty in getting it passed. That's what happened where I live. Bear in mind that my children's school district has one of the lowest expenditure per student than the other school districts in our city, but is one of the highest rated districts in our city.

We do need to spend more money on our children's education by way of paying our teachers more. Our government needs to do a better of job of getting that to happen by re-directing monies away from more trivial things.

[billboe1]

Math isn't hip. But the products that are developed that rely on math & science are. Somehow we need to get that message to kids.

Also, a teacher lasts forever. How about givng them a paycheck that lasts?

[billboe1]

Math isn't hip. But the products that are developed that rely on math & science are. Somehow we need to get that message to kids.

All kids are bright when they get excited about something.


A teacher lasts forever. How about givng them a paycheck that lasts.

[billboe1]

Math isn't hip. But the products that are developed that rely on math & science are. Somehow we need to get that message to kids.

All kids are bright when they get excited about something.

Also, teachers need to be given better pay. What an insult to the people who have our future in their hands.

A teacher lasts forever. How about givng them a paycheck that lasts.

[blazercoach1]

george,

Do you have any data to back that up? Please share.

[mjh97]

It is not who is teaching our nation%u2019s math classes, or what they are teaching, that is the problem. It is how it is being taught. Education is probably the profession that is the slowest to change. Math educators have been teaching the same way for decades, and it is not working. Just ask the next person that you see if they like math, or better yet if they can do math, mostly likely you will get a negative response.

Other countries have figured this out and are changing the way math curriculum is presented. Math is problem solving, so that is what our children should be doing. Traditionally US teachers tell or show students how to do a step-by-step procedure, so students aren%u2019t problem solving for themselves they are repeating the steps of the teacher, a very low level thought process. Other countries set students off on a problem solving task and embrace student struggles and alternate strategies as students learn how to be deep problem solvers. Check out the book %u201CThe Teaching Gap%u201D.

We must change HOW we teach math.

[cvlsh]

the challenge is that it isn't necessarily the teachers, but the state mandated curriculums, and the focus of the government on "no child left behind", forcing teacher to pass all children or get them to that level when maybe they shouldn't or aren't ready.

We need to let the brightest soar, and this mandate is focusing the teachers on the bottom levels, and tightening the curriculums around the lower levels.

This is deteriorating our public school

[iea_unionman]

Philanthropists are not the answer. Unions are not the problem. The US has a hard time attracting the "best and brightest" into education because we don't value educators. We define success based on salary and promotion, rarely due to public service. If the country valued education, then the Department of Education would not be at odds with the teacher unions. We would have been paying generations of teachers equitably with other professions, instead of treating salaries as a tax burden, or perhaps viewing teachers as simply a second income that motivated spouses use to supplement the real household income earners. Want to see innovative professionals at work? Visit the nearest public school to your home. Want to find people making big money? Look elsewhere. Unless the entire nation agrees to fund teacher salaries, we'll have a nation of underpaid teachers and the majority of the "best and brightest" will continue making big bucks in the private sector.

[math2345]

I am sick and tired of hearing people cry about math teachers being in demand. I am a qualified New York State Math Teacher and I am having the hardest time securing a probationary position. I am, currently, a leave replacement making $468 biweekly. I make $15,000 a year and I have my graduate degree.

I looked into the "Math for America" application which states you need at least 3 years of experience before applying therefore blocking out all new teachers.

I have 65 students and only 2 students are failing which I am currently working with to help improve their skills.

I arrive to school early and I stay late. I leave my door open during all of my free periods where my students come to hang out or get extra help.

I think I am a qualified teacher that is just going to waste. So, please stop crying about the lack of Math Teachers when I know at least one that is willing to work (and work hard).

[tburzio]

Teachers are the ones being tested, not students. If there were no Unions in control of teaching, then we would not be having this problem.