Published: March 12, 2008 05:44 pm            

New awards a great idea

Gov. Mitch Daniels makes a good point: Indiana recognizes its best athletes each year. Why not recognize its top scholars?

Starting this year, it will.

Daniels unveiled plans last week to present the inaugural Hoosier High School Math and Science Awards this spring.

“Every spring, we celebrate with excitement the selection of Mr. and Miss Basketball,” Daniels said in a news release. “It’s past time that we hold academic achievement in the same esteem and emphasize the decisive importance that ability in math and science will play in Indiana’s future.”

Students can nominate themselves, but teachers, principals and other school staff members can also make nominations. Application criteria will include such information as SAT, ACT and advanced placement scores, awards and prizes as well as grades received in math and science.

“A strong foundation of math and science skills has never been more critical than it is today,” Dr. Suellen Reed, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, said in a news release, “and this is a great opportunity to recognize and to encourage our students to excel in these areas.”

Mr. or Miss Math and Science will be selected each year by a committee of high school math and science teachers, curriculum experts from the Indiana Department of Education and the governor’s office.

The impetus for these new awards should be obvious.

After generations as a major industrial center, Indiana has been struggling in recent years to find its place in the new economy. It trails other states in terms of the level of education of its residents, and many of its college graduates wind up leaving the state to find jobs.

Clearly, Indiana must do more to raise its profile as a state that values academic achievement. Recognizing its top math and science students is a step in the right direction.

– Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, and Kokomo Tribune

        

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