ABSTRACT
The Challenger tragedy and the economic threats involved in the United States trade deficit suggest that, while necessity is the mother of invention, failure can be the father of innovation. Both the space program and international trade are examples of arenas in which the federal government needs solid, honest and long-range scientific knowledge. But, finally, through the Congress's insistence, which was based to a large degree on scientific advice, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is stressing the scientific and technological uses of the station, and reluctantly has agreed to a man-tended configuration before assembling the full Station. This chapter discusses the matter of education for another area in which scientific pressures produced a positive development in public policy. For years, reports from a variety of independent and government sources have warned that our country's children were relatively illiterate in math and science.
