Former Senator and astronaut John H. Glenn told a packed ARCO forum last night that the American secondary school system does not treat or train its teachers well enough, and students are suffering,

Glenn was chosen last year as the head of the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, which released its findings in late September.

Glenn cited findings of the commission showing that through fourth grade, American school systems rank among the top 2 to 3 nations in math and science of 41 nations studied, but by graduation, America ranks among the bottom 2-3 nations.

"People say, 'What's good enough for the past is good enough for the future.' Not necessarily," Glenn said.

Changes in America's educational system are necessary, Glenn said, and as the only country in the world without a nationalized system, those changes are in the hands of the country's 15,300 independently elected school systems.

Glenn said that a three-fold plan is necessary to correct the country's performance in math and science.

He acknowledged the need to improve America's teaching force and better prepare new teachers. Recruitment programs, he said, need to be initiated to counter the chronic teacher shortage in the K-12 system. Finally, he said teacher salaries need to be increased so that the teaching profession is more attractive.

Because American teachers are teaching outside their primary fields, Glenn said, our educational system has suffered.