[ti:Can America Win the Education Race?] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:Education Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:02.74]Education Report. [00:04.50]President Obama talked a lot [00:06.98]about education in his State [00:09.27]of the Union speech last week. [00:11.76]BARACK OBAMA: "We need to out-innovate, [00:14.07]out-educate and out-build [00:15.67]the rest of the world. [Applause]" [00:17.11]"This is our generation's [00:19.45]Sputnik moment," he said. [00:21.54]BARACK OBAMA: "Half a century ago, [00:22.94]when the Soviets beat us into space [00:24.73]with the launch of a satellite [00:26.17]called Sputnik, we had no idea [00:28.96]how we would beat them to the moon. [00:30.60]The science wasn't even there yet. [00:33.39]NASA didn't exist. [00:36.22]But after investing [00:38.87]in better research and education, [00:40.51]we didn't just surpass the Soviets; [00:43.90]we unleashed a wave of innovation [00:46.49]that created new industries [00:47.79]and millions of new jobs." [00:49.08]If Americans want to [00:50.63]"win the future," he said, [00:52.62]then they also have to win the race [00:55.30]to educate their children. [00:57.40]BARACK OBAMA: "Over the next ten years, [00:58.69]nearly half of all new jobs [01:00.93]will require education that goes [01:02.62]beyond a high school education. [01:04.41]And yet as many as a quarter [01:08.09]of our students aren't even [01:09.49]finishing high school. [01:10.33]The quality of our math [01:12.82]and science education lags [01:14.32]behind many other nations. [01:15.46]America has fallen to ninth [01:18.00]in the proportion of young people [01:19.59]with a college degree." [01:20.74]Two years ago, Mr. Obama [01:22.49]set a goal to regain the world's [01:25.53]highest rate of college graduates [01:28.12]by twenty-twenty. [01:30.07]He says the responsibility [01:32.16]to give every child a chance [01:34.86]to succeed begins not in classrooms, [01:38.19]but in homes and communities. [01:41.23]BARACK OBAMA: "Only parents [01:42.42]can make sure the TV is turned off [01:44.21]and homework gets done. [01:45.86]We need to teach our kids [01:48.89]that it's not just the winner [01:49.94]of the Super Bowl who deserves [01:51.23]to be celebrated, but the winner [01:53.28]of the science fair. [Applause]" [01:54.28]President Obama talked about [01:56.82]his Race to the Top competition. [01:59.15]It offered states money to develop [02:02.59]plans to improve teacher quality [02:05.77]and student performance. [02:07.56]He urged Congress to follow this idea [02:11.65]for the next version [02:13.39]of the main federal law on elementary [02:16.82]and secondary education. [02:18.86]Also, he called for preparing [02:22.44]one hundred thousand new teachers [02:25.58]in science, technology, engineering [02:29.16]and math over the next ten years. [02:32.85]In his message, Mr. Obama [02:36.50]offered to begin debate with Congress [02:39.18]on immigration reform, [02:41.26]and he linked that issue to education. [02:44.75]BARACK OBAMA: "Today, there are hundreds [02:46.09]of thousands of students excelling [02:48.18]in our schools [02:49.13]who are not American citizens. [02:51.62]Some are the children [02:54.00]of undocumented workers, [02:55.70]who had nothing to do with [02:57.39]the actions of their parents. [02:59.03]They grew up as Americans [03:01.72]and pledge allegiance to our flag, [03:04.06]and yet they live every day [03:06.75]with the threat of deportation. [03:08.20]Others come here from abroad to study [03:11.83]in our colleges and universities. [03:13.52]But as soon as they [03:14.97]obtain advanced degrees, [03:16.46]we send them back home [03:17.91]to compete against us." [03:19.25]The speech came the same day [03:21.49]the Education Department [03:23.28]released the latest results [03:25.42]on student progress in science. [03:28.21]The goal is for all students [03:31.35]to perform at the proficient [03:33.79]or advanced level. [03:35.53]But only about one-third of students [03:38.86]in grades four and eight [03:41.40]and one-fifth of twelfth-graders [03:44.54]did that in two thousand nine. [03:47.13]Just one to two percent [03:50.16]of students performed [03:51.85]at the advanced level. [03:53.99]And that's the VOA Special English [03:57.38]Education Report. [03:59.07]I'm Steve Ember.