U.S. Students Give Math Top Grade in National Survey
Roper Starch Worldwide conducted the nationwide survey which polled 514 students on their perception of math education, as well as their interest in the subject.
In random order, students were asked to specify how important each of the following subjects would be after graduation:
Interestingly, respondents listed math more important for after graduation than traditional favorite English, and voted Physical Education at least as important as History.
The Roper Survey, which took place September 7-11, 2000, and released today, highlights a gap between students' enthusiasm about mathematics compared to their actual performance. While 94% agree that math is "useful," 56% describe math as "easy," and a much smaller number of 32% rate themselves as "excellent" in math. The U.S. Department of Education reports that 69% of 12th graders only have "at or above proficient" math skills.
"The survey proves that kids are in fact quite perceptive as to the importance that mathematics and technology will have on their lives," said Tom Leighton, co-founder and chief scientist at Akamai, and a MIT professor. "The onus, however, is on adults, educators and corporate leaders, to join together to support and match this enthusiasm for math. Our research indicates that the Internet still remains a fairly untapped educational resource — thus making it a good starting point for us all as we work to shape the benefits of the Web. To see students' heightened interest in math is gratifying; to see them excel in math is the next step."
Additional notable findings of the survey include:
Recognizing the integral role that math plays in the evolution of business and technology, Akamai today unveiled the "Magic of Math" — the first initiative of the newly formed Akamai Foundation (see separate press release dated September 25). The Akamai Foundation was established to promote the importance of math education and increase students' awareness of math as vital to the future of technology.
As part of the foundation's efforts, a "Magic of Math" Web site, www.magicofmath.org, was designed to encourage educational use of the Internet and promote math within the context of games and peer-to-peer problem solving. Visitors to the site can register for math competitions, purchase books, submit original content, or question the "math wizards" — a group of Akamai volunteers. Also as part of the initiative, Akamai will sponsor the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the American Mathematical Competitions (AMC).
About the Roper Starch Survey
The survey was conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide, one of the nation's largest public opinion and marketing research firms. Telephone interviews were conducted from September 7 to September 11, 2000, with a nationally representative random sample of 514 children ages 12 through 17. The margin of error for a sample of this size is +/- 4%.
About Akamai
Akamai is the foremost provider of global, high performance services for the delivery of Internet content, streaming media and applications, serving over 2,100 customers. Akamai has the broadest deployment of servers for content, streaming media, and applications delivery with more than 4,200 servers in 50 countries directly connected to 225 different telecommunications networks. Akamai (pronounced AH kuh my) is Hawaiian for intelligent, clever and cool.
The release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, the dependence on Akamai's Internet content delivery service, a failure of its network infrastructure, the complexity of its service and the networks on which the service is deployed, the failure to obtain access to transmission capacity and other factors that are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.
| Contacts: |
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| Jeff Young Akamai Technologies 617-250-3913 jyoung@akamai.com |
--or-- | Maria Brown NYPR 212-421-3555 maria@nypr.com |
Surprising 80% of Teenagers Rank Math as "Very Important" School Subject — Considerably Ahead of English (68%) and Science (42%)
Young People View Math as Crucial for Technology Careers, But Infrequently Utilize Internet as Educational Tool
Roper Starch Worldwide conducted the nationwide survey which polled 514 students on their perception of math education, as well as their interest in the subject.
In random order, students were asked to specify how important each of the following subjects would be after graduation:
Very Somewhat Only a little Not
important important important important at all
--------- --------- ------------- ----------------
Math............80% 15% 3% 2%
English.........68 24 7 1
Science.........42 41 14 4
Foreign
languages......34 37 18 10
Gym or physical
education......21 36 24 18
History.........19 52 22 8
Interestingly, respondents listed math more important for after graduation than traditional favorite English, and voted Physical Education at least as important as History.
The Roper Survey, which took place September 7-11, 2000, and released today, highlights a gap between students' enthusiasm about mathematics compared to their actual performance. While 94% agree that math is "useful," 56% describe math as "easy," and a much smaller number of 32% rate themselves as "excellent" in math. The U.S. Department of Education reports that 69% of 12th graders only have "at or above proficient" math skills.
"The survey proves that kids are in fact quite perceptive as to the importance that mathematics and technology will have on their lives," said Tom Leighton, co-founder and chief scientist at Akamai, and a MIT professor. "The onus, however, is on adults, educators and corporate leaders, to join together to support and match this enthusiasm for math. Our research indicates that the Internet still remains a fairly untapped educational resource — thus making it a good starting point for us all as we work to shape the benefits of the Web. To see students' heightened interest in math is gratifying; to see them excel in math is the next step."
Additional notable findings of the survey include:
Although 75% of students recognize math as "very important" for a career in computers, technology, or the Internet, few use the Internet as an educational tool.More than 50% of young people "almost never" go online for help with math homework but 69% are accessing the Internet "at least once a week," 29% to play games.
84% of students polled think math would be more interesting if it could be learned through games. 56% of students think math would be more interesting if it could be learned through the Internet.
Despite the technological advantages that many students have in today's world, 52% still prefer to play sports after school, shadowing the slim15% that prefer playing on the computer or Internet — proving kids are still kids.
Recognizing the integral role that math plays in the evolution of business and technology, Akamai today unveiled the "Magic of Math" — the first initiative of the newly formed Akamai Foundation (see separate press release dated September 25). The Akamai Foundation was established to promote the importance of math education and increase students' awareness of math as vital to the future of technology.
As part of the foundation's efforts, a "Magic of Math" Web site, www.magicofmath.org, was designed to encourage educational use of the Internet and promote math within the context of games and peer-to-peer problem solving. Visitors to the site can register for math competitions, purchase books, submit original content, or question the "math wizards" — a group of Akamai volunteers. Also as part of the initiative, Akamai will sponsor the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the American Mathematical Competitions (AMC).
About the Roper Starch Survey
The survey was conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide, one of the nation's largest public opinion and marketing research firms. Telephone interviews were conducted from September 7 to September 11, 2000, with a nationally representative random sample of 514 children ages 12 through 17. The margin of error for a sample of this size is +/- 4%.
About Akamai
Akamai is the foremost provider of global, high performance services for the delivery of Internet content, streaming media and applications, serving over 2,100 customers. Akamai has the broadest deployment of servers for content, streaming media, and applications delivery with more than 4,200 servers in 50 countries directly connected to 225 different telecommunications networks. Akamai (pronounced AH kuh my) is Hawaiian for intelligent, clever and cool.
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The release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, the dependence on Akamai's Internet content delivery service, a failure of its network infrastructure, the complexity of its service and the networks on which the service is deployed, the failure to obtain access to transmission capacity and other factors that are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.
