In this video from The UpTake forwarded to Education Futures from Bring Me the News, President Obama speaks on the relationship between education and national competitiveness (you can skip the introductions and jump to his talk which begins around 6:20 into the video):
President Obama: “So make no mistake: Our future is on the line. The nation that out-educates us today is going to out-compete us tomorrow. To continue to cede our leadership in education is to cede our position in the world. That’s not acceptable to me and I know it’s not acceptable to any of you. And that’s why my administration has set a clear goal: to move from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math education over the next decade.”
Okay, so science and math education are important, but isn’t building a creative and innovative workforce important, too? Can we create a “race to the top” for creating meaningful innovations in education?
Agreed on both fronts – education is a security issue and could we please get a more holistic sense of what education means. Yes, STEM is critical, but so is expression of ideas, ability to analyze, empathy and collaboration. I would add, too, that smart use of data to inform instruction, allocate resources and make the system more kid-centric wouldn’t hurt, either.
Jean Fleming
Director of Marketing
NWEA – Partnering to help all kids learn
Sponsor of Forward 2010, a conference on innovation in education