In a speech today, President Obama announced several new programs, including an annual White House science fair, to boost interest in science and math education, especially among minorities and girls.
“If you win the NAACP championship, you come to the White House. Well, if you’re a young person, and you produced the best experiment or design, or the best hardware or software, you ought to be recognized for that achievement too,” Obama said to an audience that included students, the first American female astronaut Sally Ride and those guys from Mythbusters.
“Scientists and engineers ought to stand side by side with athletes and entertainers as role models. And here at the White House, we’re gonna lead by example,” he added. “We’re gonna show young people how cool science can be.”
Obama also announced five public-private partnerships. Time Warner Cable, for example, pledged $100 million — 80 percent of its philanthropy — to science, technology, engineering and math education and will work with FIRST Robotics and the Coalition for Science After School to connect students with science and math activities.
Discovery Communications will produce free educational content for schools. Sesame Street started a two-year program to teach their young viewers math and science. National Lab Day, a privately supported effort, will upgrade science labs and encourage project-based learning. And a group of foundations and corporations, including Sony, will hold a set of competitions for designing math- and science-based games for kids.
A group of private citizens, including Sally Ride and the CEOs of Xerox, Time Warner Cable and Eastman Kodak, will work to encourage private donations to math and science education.
Obama’s goal, he said, is to make the United States the world leader in college graduates in 10 years, and to improve the country’s standing in math and science innovation — and, by extension, the American economy.
Many of the problems we face in this country are, in root, science problems, he said.
But the U.S. ranks 21st in such education.
“And the hard truth is that for decades we’ve been losing ground,” he said. “We’ve heard warning statistics like this for years. Yet, time and again we’ve let petty and partisan bickering stand in the way of progress.”
He called on states to monitor and improve teacher quality, on parents to demand the best for their children and on the students themselves.
“We can’t let students off the hook. In the end, the success of this campaign depends on them. But I believe strongly that America’s young people will rise to the occasion, if given the opportunity, and given a little bit of a push,” Obama said.
