George W. Bush

“ Will we become a nation that is isolationist and fearful of competition from around the world, or will be we be — continue to be a bold and innovative country?
We've got a good economy right now. It's growing at rapid paces, and there's a lot of new jobs being added and productivity is high, and people are owning homes, and that's all positive. ”

“ It means, one, you believe every child can learn; two, you refuse to accept a system that just shuffles kids through school because they happen to be a certain age. In other words, you use an accountability system — and by the way, we've insisted upon measurement in return for federal money; we didn't say we'll develop the tests for you — you develop your own accountability systems — but we expect there to be results when we spend money. And if you believe every child can learn, then you shouldn't be worried about measuring. ”

“ We saw three really wonderful teachers, people who are dedicated to their profession, who deeply care about the students they teach. And for all of you here who are teaches, thanks for carrying on a really noble profession. We saw two scientists who are here from NASA. These are good, hard-working folks who said, I kind of want to lend my expertise to try to convince a child that science is cool. You know, sometimes — you might remember those days, when you were in middle school, people say, you know, science isn't cool. ”

“ And I'm not kidding when I said we need to make sure that people realize math and science are cool subjects. Now, coolness I think is — I think it's still prevalent in junior high, you know? Well, there's nothing better somebody to say this is important than somebody that's actually living it — living the field, living the dream of being a scientist.
And so we've got a goal of 70,000 AP teachers, and 30,000 adjunct professors in classrooms. The House of Representatives reauthorized the Higher Education Act, which included the AP program and the adjunct teacher program. ”

“ The accountability system is an important tool upholding people to high standards. It makes a lot of sense, as far as I'm concerned. One of the important parts of No Child Left Behind, by the way, particularly in the reading program, if you've fallen behind early, here's extra money to help you catch up. It's called supplemental services. It's a really important part of a program that says every child can read, and when we detect a child not reading, let's correct the problem early, before it's too late. In essence, we've ended social promotion and we're having high standards. ”

“ A second thing we can do is recognize that most research and development takes place in the private sector. That's about $200 billion a year is spent in private sector research. In other words, we've got some of the leading companies in our country doing research as to how to develop new products that will make sure that not only their company and their shareholders benefit, but that it ends up in order to the benefit of the United States. ”

“ The truth of the matter is, the parent is really the child's first teacher. And every school I have been to as governor or President, I have always found that parental involvement makes a significant difference in the quality of the education. ”

“ Second, we ought to have 30,000 math and science professionals in our classrooms over the next eight years. Today I met two; they're called adjunct professors. As I told you earlier, it's really important for students to see firsthand what it's like to be a scientist. Margaret and I didn't do a very good job of teaching what it's like to be a scientist. The two guys from NASA did an excellent job of teaching them what it is like to be a scientist. It is — there's just something that's important for a child to connect with a role model. ”

“ Science is not only cool, it's really important for the future of this country, and it's great to have people we call adjunct professors here, to help lend their real-life experiences to stimulate junior high students to the wonders of science. ”

“ It is a part of our strategy to make sure that we achieve the objective of laying that foundation for our children in math and science. By January 31st, 2007, the National Math Panel will report their assessments of the best practices for teaching math. Those experts will come together and help advise school districts about what is working and what's not working; what skills students need at what grade to master algebra and higher mathematics. ”

“ That is the time to intervene in a child's academic career to make sure he or she has that skill set necessary to become the mathematicians or the scientists or the engineers by the time they get out of college. ”

“ It doesn't work very well when you end up with a high school kid graduating who can't read, and you go, what went wrong? Where did we fail the child? What did we do wrong for the parent? Measurement is an important way to make sure that children are not left behind. ”

“ China is a very important strategic friend in many ways, and in many ways they pose competition to us. It's a growing economy. They've got folks that are beginning to realize the benefits of a marketplace. ”

“ The standards and accountability that will be needed to ensure students are learning math — that will be a part of their mandate. They will look at the teaching methods that are most effective for students of different abilities and backgrounds. ”

“ But more importantly, I am grateful that you're a principal. Great schools — the really good schools in our country have at its center an educational entrepreneur who is able to rally a teacher group to set high standards and follow through. ”

“ If you're living in Midland, Texas, or living in Montgomery County, Maryland, it's important to understand if children don't have those skill sets needed to compete with a child from India, or a child from China, the new jobs will be going there. ”

“ The National Report Card showed 8th graders earned the best math scores ever recorded; 8th grade Hispanic and African American students achieved their highest math scores ever. We're beginning to make important strides. We're closing an achievement gap in America, an achievement gap that is wrong and important for the future of this country. ”

“ And I'm pretty confident it will make sense to have a national panel of experts make recommendations — not mandates — but recommendations about how school districts can achieve the objective of making sure math is properly taught and what needs to be used to make sure that it works. ”

“ Their entrepreneurship is strong. And we can either look at China and say, let's compete with China in a fair way, or say, we can't compete with China and therefore kind of isolate ourselves from the world. ”