Obama wil bèta’s

Nieuws | de redactie

3 december 2009 | President Obama heeft zijn eigen Platform Bèta-Techniek gelanceerd, het programma 'Educate to Innovate'. Zijn hoogste science-adviseur, John Holdren, licht dit initiatief toe en waarschuwt voor een gebrek aan inzet voor studenten en scholieren op dit punt: "They lose, and our nation loses too."

De president sprak bij die gelegenheid indringende woorden overde zware taak waar hij en zijn regering voor staan: “This is adifficult time in our country, and it would be easy to grow cynicaland wonder if America’s best days are behind us. Especially at atime of economic uncertainty, especially when we’ve seen so many,from Wall Street to Washington, fail to take responsibility for solong.  But I believe we have an opportunity now to move beyondthe failures of the recent past and to recapture that spirit ofAmerican innovation and optimism.

This nation wasn’t built on greed. It wasn’t built on recklessrisk. It wasn’t built on short-term gains and short-sightedpolicies. It was forged on stronger stuff, by bold men and womenwho dared to invent something new or improve something old, whotook big chances on big ideas, who believed that in America allthings are possible. 

That’s our history.  And, if we remain fixed on the workahead, if we build on the progress we’ve made today, this is goingto be our legacy as well.”

Holdrens toelichting op het nieuwe beleidsprogramma leest uhier:

President Obama helped launch a new campaign, “Educateto Innovate,” designed  to energize and excite America’sstudents in science, technology, engineering and mathematics(STEM). It builds on the President’s pledge that he would usehis position to help encourage students to study and considercareers in science, engineering, technology, and innovation-fieldsupon which America’s future depends-and elevate those students fromthe middle to the top of the pack worldwide.

At the kick-off event, President Obama announced the launch offive major public-private partnerships that have committed tohelping unleash the power of media, interactive games, hands-onlearning, and community volunteers to reach millions of studentsover the next four years, inspiring them to become the nextgeneration of engineers and scientists, inventors andinnovators.

The new campaign builds on the President’s Inaugural Address, whichincluded a vow to put science “in its rightful place.” One of thoserightful places, of course, is the classroom. Yet too often ourschools lack support for teachers or the other resources needed toconvey the practical utility and remarkable beauty of science andengineering. As a result, students become overwhelmed in theirclasses and ultimately disengaged. They lose, and our nation losestoo.

The partnerships launched today aim to change that. They respond toa challenge made by the President in April, when he spoke at theannual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences and asked thenation’s philanthropists, professional and educational societies,corporations, and individuals to collaborate and innovate with thegoal of reinvigorating America’s STEM educational enterprise. Thepartnerships – dramatic commitments in the hundreds ofmillions of dollars, generated through novel collaborations andcreative outreach activities -are just the first wave ofcommitments anticipated in response to his call.

Think about how you or your organization can build on thismomentum. And let’s pull together to open our children’s eyes tothe countless ways in which science, engineering, and math can helpAmerica and the world find solutions to the many challenges weface.

John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Scienceand Technology and the Director of White House Office of Scienceand Technology Policy

Melody C. Barnes, Director of the Domestic PolicyCouncil