We face our own tipping point in education. Public school students come to universities with poorer and poorer math preparation. In math-based colleges like engineering, science, and business we've suddenly reached a point were we must choose between an alarmingly high failure rate or an alarming lowering of standards. Maybe in this case we can recognize a nonlinear tipping point and do something about it. The tipping point is parental interest.
Parents tip the balance in our schools.
To empower our children with a knowledge of math and science we must convince just a few parents. It takes only a few to tip the balance, and do great good. I am grateful to UH Chancellor William Hobby for drawing my attention to the tipping-point idea and for providing a copy of Gladwell's article.