Educate to Innovate

The New York Times published an article on November 23, 2009 which discussed a new campaign for education that is being pushed by the White House. The campaign is called Educate to Innovate and its goal is to enlist companies and non profit organizations to spend money, time, and to volunteer effort to encourage students, especially in middle school and high school, to purse science,technology, engineering and math. Members of the White House have already recruited Elmo, Big Bird, video gamers and thousands of scientists to work on this new campaign.

President Obama announced that as a part of this campaign there will be an annual science fair held as the White House. As President Obama spoke of this new campaign he is quoted as saying, "If you win the N.C.A.A. championship, you come to the White House. Well, If you're a young person and you've produced the experiment or design, the best hardware or software, you ought to be recognized for that achievement, too. Scientist and engineers ought to stand side by side with athletes and entertainers as role models, and here at the White House, we're going to lead by example. We're going to show young people how cool science can be" (New York Times).

I really like President Obama's statement on showing students how cool science can be and that scientists and engineers should stand at the level as athletes and entertainers. I think it is very sad and unfortunate that so much attention and money is poured into sports and entertainment. More money and attention should be paid for intellectual activities. I hope that this new campaign is successful is getting students more excited and involved with math and science.

New York Times: White House Begins Campaign to Promote Science and Math Education