There is an 'education arms race' on from
India to China: Obama
Thursday, October 14, 2010 12:39:39 PM,
Arun Kumar,
IANS
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Washington:
US President Barack Obama has warned that cutting America's
education budget would amount to "unilateral disarmament" in an
"education arms race" from India and China to Germany to lead the
global economy.
"Nothing would be more shortsighted," Obama said at the White
House Wednesday noting "the nation that educates its children the
best will be the nation that leads the global economy in the 21st
century."
"There's an educational arms race taking place around the world
right now -- from China to Germany, to India to South Korea.
Cutting back on education would amount to unilateral disarmament,"
he said. "We can't afford to do that."
Obama said he was asking the Congress to make the "American
Opportunity Tax Credit", a college tuition tax credit worth up to
$2,500 a year, permanent for four years of college " because we've
got to make sure that in good times or bad, our families can
invest in their children's future and in the future of our
country."
But the opposition Republican proposal to cut back on education by
20 percent would mean "reducing financial aid for eight million
students and leaving our community colleges without the resources
they need to prepare our students for the jobs of the future."
"It's not just about preparing our kids for the jobs of the
future," he said. "It's about building a brighter future ... where
the American Dream is a living reality. By opening the doors of
college to anyone who wants to go, that's a future we can help
build together."
In another address on "Moving America Forward" at George
Washington University here Tuesday, Obama said: "The single most
important determinant of how we do economically is going to be the
skills of our workforce. "
"We used to be at the top of the heap when it came to math and
science education. We're now 21st and 25th respectively in science
and math. We used to be number one in the proportion of college
graduates in the world. We're now ranked around ninth."
"Other countries are making huge investments," Obama said citing
China, which "is doubling, tripling, quadrupling the number of
college graduates it's generating" because it understands "that to
start moving up the value chain in the economy, they've got to
start producing more engineers and scientists."
"India understands that. Germany has long understood that. And yet
here we are, losing that first-place position. That is
unacceptable." Obama said.
(Arun Kumar can be
contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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