Bart Gordon: Move Forward With COMPETES Act
September 13, 2010
| 11:32 AM
A key house lawmaker called on the country to prioritize improvements in science and technology education in the name of competitiveness.
"As a nation, we are the frog in the boiling water, our competitiveness is slipping away," Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., said. "We know what to do, let's start doing it." Gordon's remarks came at a forum held at the Brookings Institution on Monday about science and technology education.
Gordon, who successfully led the House to pass a reauthorization of the COMPETES Act this past spring, urged audience members to push the Senate to do the same. The measure would fund a host of research programs and bolster science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.
Right now, when it comes to STEM education, "we're not getting a lot of bang for our buck." Part of the problem, Gordon says, is lack of coordination, something the reauthorization of COMPETES will address.
Eric Lander, co-chair of the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST), also spoke at the event and gave a preview of recommendations the council will make in a forthcoming report on k-12 STEM education.
The first key conclusion of the report, Lander said, is that STEM education must be designed to both prepare and inspire. The two-pronged strategy will undergird all of the recommendations that the report will deliver.
Rewarding the best teachers, funding the creation of technology-enabled platforms designed for education and building STEM capacity at federal agencies, are among the suggestions that will be fleshed out in the pending PCAST report.
Other high-profile science and technology professionals featured at the event include Susan Hockfield, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Robert Birgeneau, chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley.
Join the Discussion
The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
Comments powered by Disqus