SO WHAT'S SO IMPORTANT ABOUT K-12 EDUCATION?

Have you ever wondered why the Geology and Earth Science Departments in our Universities and Colleges represent the smallest department around? Is it a lack of job opportunities? -- Poor pay scales? -- A public lack of interest? -- Or just plain "who knows"? If one evaluates the numbers for scientists: Physics-Chemistry-Biology and Geology, with respect to: (1) starting salaries for a BS degree, biologists average $23,000; geologists average $28,000 and chemists average $30,000, (There are so few physicists employed at the BS level that a national average starting salary at the BS is not statistically valid) and (2) employment numbers for biology about 118,000, chemistry about 97,000, geology about 46,000 and physics about 20,000. These numbers show that starting salaries and job availability are comparable among the sciences. If it is not money or jobs, could it be a problem of more graduates than job openings? The ratio of jobs to BS degree are about 1:6 in biology, 1:5 in physics, 1:3 in chemistry and 1:2 in geology -- Only 2 graduates for each job opening in geology! The too often heard claim that "there are no jobs in geology, so don't major in geology unless you want to wash dishes" doesn't hold water -- there are more jobs/graduate in geology than in any other science. If it's not salary or jobs then there must be another underlying constraint on the number of geology majors -- like the K-12 educational program. Very few high schools offer geology or Earth science and there is no advance placement examination in geology, as there are in physics, chemistry and biology. Why would an intelligent young high school graduate enter a career field in geology if they don't even know that one exists? What middle school student is going to enter the field of geology if their seventh grade Earth Science final examination in geology was "List the minerals in Mohs hardness scale, in order, and give their chemical formula" -- I should wonder why my daughter is a PhD candidate in Biology! The entire geology profession must evaluate our future, for without a sound K-12 program and, more importantly, an integrated teacher support system the profession will join the dinosaurs in the sweet-sleep of extinction.