Bush pushes proposals to make U.S. workers more competitive
By Jennifer Loven
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1:02 p.m. February 3, 2006
RIO RANCHO, N.M. – Prodding students on Friday, President Bush spoke to the fears of many American youngsters: Don't assume math and science are too hard, or that studying them is a ticket into the “nerd patrol.”
(UFB - NERD PATROL - that pinhead!)
Bush appeared Friday at Intel Corp.'s huge computer chip-making plant outside Albuquerque to pitch a package of proposals aimed at better positioning America against fast-growing economies like China and India, which place high emphasis on math and science education and are gobbling up U.S. jobs.
The president's $5.9 billion “American Competitiveness Initiative,” introduced in his State of the Union address, proposes to bolster basic research at government laboratories, improve math and science instruction in public schools and stimulate corporate technological innovations.
Bush's panel discussion with Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, the head of the government's Sandia National Laboratory, a local student and others was geared toward his program's $412 million education component. Among other initiatives, Bush wants to make college-level courses in math and science more available to low-income high school students and draw professionals from those fields into the classroom.
As he sought to inspire students to excel in disciplines such as engineering and physics, Bush played on, rather than ignored, his own background as a so-so student, prep school cheerleader and hard-partying fraternity president.
With freewheeling folksiness, Bush joked that he himself could use a tutor in math. And, in a reference to his reputation for mangling the spoken word, English as well.
“A lot of people probably think math and science isn't meant for me – you know, it seems a little hard, algebra,” Bush said to laughter from his invitation-only crowd at Intel. “I understand that, frankly.”
He noted he chose to major in history, which he said “meant a lot” but might not be enough for today's student “if you're interested in work and you're getting out of school and you want to be trained in a job which actually exists.”
Bush then turned to the social pitfalls sometimes associated with enthusiasm for certain subjects.
“Take a look at math and science. I'm sure they're saying, you know kind of, 'They're nerd patrol,'” the president said. “It's not. It's the future. The future is engineering and physics and chemistry and math.”
(I want genetic altering - but he wont fund that)
Bush said the matter is crucial for the country.
“This competitive world is going to demand a job skill set that emphasizes math and science,” he said. “If our kids don't have the talents necessary to compete, those jobs won't go away, they'll just go to another country.”
Later, the president pounded the same theme with a visit to the School of Science and Engineering in Dallas, part of the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center.
The president's proposal to more than double in five years the ranks of teachers trained to lead the more intensive AP math and science classes was based in part on a program that has been in use in Dallas public schools for a decade. There, minority students are now passing AP exams – which gives them college credits – at rates three times the national average, the White House says.
Bush and the first lady visited with about a dozen advanced placement students at a high school in Dallas, where they told him about work they were doing on DNA and learning how to operate and do research with an electron microscope.
“It's important to spread AP classes throughout the country,” Bush said. “We want more AP students because we want engineers and scientists so they can compete with other students around the world,” Bush said, referring to his State of the Union goal of training more advanced placement teachers.
The president's proposal, to cost $122 million in fiscal 2007 – $90 million more than 2006 spending – would allow districts with a high concentration of low-income students to offer cash bonuses to teachers who become qualified and to those whose students pass. The goal is to increase the number of students who pass AP exams from the current 230,000 to 700,000.
Bush's competitiveness initiative is similar to, but much smaller than, a bipartisan bill already introduced in the Senate. That effort – crafted to implement the recommendations outlined in an October National Academies of Science report – calls for spending $10 billion in the first year.
For instance, the bill – sponsored by New Mexico's two senators, Republican Pete Domenici and Democrat Jeff Bingaman, also calls for getting more students to study math and science. But it suggests scholarships for college students who choose those majors, something Bush's initiative does not address.
signonsandiego.com
Meanwhile the members of his own family keep getting drunk and on drugs - maybe he needs to talk to them about NERD PATROL - bush is such a friggin dork!
thesmokinggun.com
Bush Nephew Nabbed
Jeb's youngest son in Texas booze, resisting arrest bust
SEPTEMBER 16--One of President George W. Bush's nephews--the youngest son of Florida Governor Jeb Bush--was arrested early today and charged with public drunkenness and resisting arrest. John Ellis Bush, 21, was nabbed at 2:30 AM by Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agents in Austin (Jeb Jr.'s street corner arrest came in one of the capital's popular bar districts). According to the below arrest warrant, filed with the Travis County Municipal Court, an intoxicated Bush, "continually pushed against this officer and struggled as I attempted to handcuff him." After about four hours in custody, Bush was released on $2500 bond for the resisting count (the intox charge was covered by a personal recognizance bond). This is the second time young Jeb--pictured in mug shot at right--has landed on a police blotter. In October 2000, Jeb, then 16, and a girlfriend were discovered naked from the waist down in a Jeep Cherokee parked at a Tallahassee mall. Jebby's siblings, George and Noelle, have also had well-publicized run-ins with the fuzz. (2 pages) |
