White House launches ‘Educate to Innovate’ program
By Barack Obama
U.S. president
Washington, D.C. – We live in a world of unprecedented perils, but also unparalleled potential.
Our medical system holds the promise of unlocking new cures, but it’s attached to a health care system that’s bankrupting families and businesses and our government.
The sources of energy that power our economy are also endangering our planet.
We confront threats to our security that seek to exploit the very openness that is essential to our prosperity.
And we face challenges in a global marketplace that link the trader to Wall Street to the homeowner on Main Street, to the office worker in America to the factory worker in China.
The key to meeting these challenges to improving our health and well-being, to harnessing clean energy, to protecting our security, and succeeding in the global economy will be reaffirming and strengthening America’s role as the world’s engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation.
And that leadership tomorrow depends on how we educate our students today, especially in those fields that hold the promise of producing future innovations and innovators. And that’s why education in math and science is so important.
For decades we’ve been losing ground. One assessment shows American 15-year-olds now rank 21st in science and 25th in math when compared to their peers around the world.
And that’s why I’m committed to moving our country from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math education over the next decade. To meet this goal, the Recovery Act included the largest investment in education in history.
Through the Race to the Top, States won’t just be receiving funding, they’ll have to compete for funding. And in this competition, producing the most innovative programs in math and science will be an advantage. And because a great teacher is the single most important factor in a great education, we’re asking States to focus on teacher effectiveness and to make it possible for professionals to bring their experience and enthusiasm into the classroom.
We are launching the “Educate to Innovate” campaign, a nationwide effort to help reach the goal this administration has set: moving to the top in science and math education in the next decade. We’ve got leaders from private companies and universities, foundations and non-profits, and organizations representing millions of scientists, engineers and teachers from across America.
Time Warner Cable is joining with the Coalition for Science After School and FIRST Robotics to connect one million students with fun after-school activities, like robotics competitions.
The MacArthur Foundation and industry leaders like Sony are launching a nationwide challenge to design compelling, freely available, science-related video games.
And organizations representing teachers, scientists, mathematicians, and engineers joined by volunteers in the community are participating in a grassroots effort called “National Lab Day” to reach 10 million young people with hands-on learning.
We’re going to have an annual science fair at the White House with the winners of national competitions in science and technology. We’re going to show young people how cool science can be.
Through these efforts, we’re going to expand the scope and scale of science and math education all across America. And we’re going to expand opportunities for all our young people, including women and minorities, who too often have been underrepresented in scientific and technological fields, but who are no less capable of succeeding.
Improving education in math and science is about producing engineers and researchers and scientists and innovators who are going to help transform our economy and our lives for the better. But it’s also about something more.
It’s about expanding opportunity for all Americans in a world where an education is the key to success. It’s about an informed citizenry in an era where many of the problems we face as a nation are, at root, scientific problems. And it’s about the power of science to not only unlock new discoveries, but to unlock in the minds of our young people a sense of promise.
– Edited from a speech given Nov. 23 in the South Court Auditorium at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building.