C6 SUNDAY, MAY 16,	1982  
ÐÊ M B ROF. PAUL HURD outlines a frightening na-. 'T7' tional trend on todayÛªs op-ed page. American precollege students are heading toward scientific and technological illiteracy in a world where se-Û¢curity and prosperity increasingly depend on sci---ence and technology. Dr. Hurd presented his warning to a convocation at the National Academy of Sciences last week.</br></br>At the meeting, educators told of steadily declining student achievement in mathematics and the V sciences and of less demanding and more out-of-J date curricula. School administrators confirmed an appalling shortage of science and mathematics teachers. The superintendent of HoustonÛªs public schools reported that thousands of students had graduated without ever having had a qualified math ;.or science teacher.</br></br>. Representatives of industry, both the new high-. technology companies and the traditional ÛÏsmokestackÛ industries, warned that they are already una-ble to find workers sufficiently trained and comfort-' able with mathematics and technology, and that . their need for such workers is going to grow steadily. The secretary of defense linked the problem directly to national security because of manpower ..needs in both the armed services and defense industries. Numerous speakers reminded the audience : 'that its literate work force has been a traditional ad-' vantage of the U.S. economy since the beginning of Tthe industrial age.</br></br>Specialists reported that while science and mathematics education been allowed to fall into decline in the United States, it is being accorded the highest priority elsewhere. Prof. Hurd illustrates some df the ominous differences between this and other countries. Yet even more than in. those other societies, democracy demands that citizens understand the choices they have to make. A very small number of American students are being vtell prepared'for careers in science and engineering, but nearly everyone elseÛÓabout 98 percent of high school graduatesÛÓis leaving school as a functional illiterate in these fields, in effect denied full citizenship.</br></br>Twenty-five years ago, Sputnik galvanized the United States into the realization that it had fallen way behind. This time, there is no single foreign threatÛÓat least not yetÛÓthough the problem may be worse. Last time, there was an immediate federal response and the programs worked, until funding and attention dissipated in the late Ûª60s. This time, there is little or no federal money available and a disinclination to look toward Washington for a solution.