FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ATLANTA — Former astronauts, college professors, classroom teachers and military officers are in Atlanta today discussing the need for better math and science education, with emphasis on aerospace education.

The focus is part of the National Congress on Aviation and Space Education in progress at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis through Saturday.

Among this morning’s speakers was Susan Sclafani, assistant secretary for vocational and adult education at the U.S. Department of Education. Sclafani said the federal government is focusing on math and science education through legislation such as the No Child Left Behind Act because tomorrow’s job market will require increasingly technical skills. “In the past,” Sclafani said, “the market was comprised of about 20 percent professional, 20 percent skilled and 60 percent unskilled jobs. Now we’re looking at a shift. The 20 percent professional is still there, but skilled jobs make up 65 percent of the demand, with only 15 percent in unskilled jobs.”

Meeting the demand for those skilled jobs requires more technical education for all students, Sclafani said. “Vocational education in the past didn’t include higher level math and science courses. Nowadays, for example, to become a certified electrician, you may have to pass a test in trigonometry. We cannot move forward as a nation without focusing on more math and science courses for all our students, whether or not they’re going on to pursue a four-year college degree.”

Of particular concern is the “graying” of the aerospace industry. The average age of today’s aerospace worker is 51 years old, and experts say not enough young people are entering the field.

“Math and science are so important because our entire economy is based on technology,” said Joe Edwards, a former astronaut who is now CEO of the National Science Center in Augusta, Ga. Edwards said the practical application of his classwork in engineering made aviation and aerospace especially appealing to him. “I wasn’t the kind of guy who liked to just sit in a classroom,” he said. “I wanted to get out there and make things happen.”

Sclafani says students like Edwards can find aerospace and aviation study especially rewarding. “Teachers have to learn how to motivate students who have grown up in a multitasking, multimedia world,” she said. “They watch TV and talk on the phone and do their homework all at the same time. They like interactive lessons. We need more research into how today’s students learn math and science concepts so we’ll know the best ways to present them.”

Sclafani also said the nation is suffering from a critical shortage of properly certified math and science teachers. “It’s a problem when a large percentage of the people teaching math and science don’t hold a major or minor in those subjects,” she said. “We need to encourage our students who are majoring in math and science to go into teaching. And we need to encourage retirees with specialized knowledge, like retired aviators and military officers, to pursue a second career in teaching.” Sclafani mentioned the military’s “Troops to Teachers” program as a promising option.

The National Congress on Aviation and Space Education is sponsored by Civil Air Patrol and the U.S. Air Force, and is the premier conference on aerospace education held nationally each year. This is the 37th year the conference has been held. This year’s theme is “Teaching Today for Tomorrow.”

Civil Air Patrol, the official Air Force auxiliary, is a nonprofit organization with some 62,000 members nationwide. It performs 95% of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. Volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members take a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the almost 27,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 60 years.

Coming up tomorrow (Friday, March 26) at the National Congress on Aviation and Space Education:

* Anthony Fowler from the U.S. Dept. of Education will talk about how aerospace education can help schools meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act

* Aviator Gus McLeod will talk about his solo flights to the North and South Poles in an open cockpit airplane

* Renowned aviator Scott Crossfield and Dr. Kevin Kochersberger will talk about reenacting the Wright Brothers flight in a carefully-crafted reproduction of the actual Wright flyer

* Guinness World Record holder Ken Blackburn will demonstrate his secrets for making and flying incredible paper airplanes

* Two female educators will talk about the “glass ceiling” for women in the aerospace industry

* Dayna Justiz of The Space Store will show you what food NASA buys right off the grocery shelves for its astronauts and how space food is packaged and prepared

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