Bush Urges Tech Skills for Schoolkids

Administration promotes math, science education to improve the technology workforce.

Lauren Dunn, Medill News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- The Bush administration says its technology priority is in the future: educating kids to become tech-savvy workers tomorrow.

In an effort to improve the nation's technology workforce, the administration is pushing to increase spending on math and science education so more kids will be ready to work in high-tech fields, such as engineering and computer programming.

"We're going to need employees who can build the products we want to sell," says Bruce Mehlman, assistant secretary for technology policy at the Department of Commerce. "We're also going to want a sophisticated consumer base to buy these products."

Congress has authorized an extra $1 billion for education, but precisely how the money will be spent won't be decided until spring, says a spokesperson from the House Appropriations Committee.

However, a bill passed this summer would give schools additional funds to increase access to technology, improve teacher training, and enhance math and science curriculum.

Industry Partners

Even though the United States spends $358 million annually to train teachers in math and science, the nation ranks 19th out of 21 industrialized countries in 12th-grade math achievement and last in advanced physics achievement, says Representative John Boehner, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee.

Besides increasing education funding, President Bush is reviving the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, originally established by his father in 1990. The council, which is made up of 18 members from the private sector and academic community, will advise the president on technology, research, and education issues.

Silicon Valley executive Floyd Kvamme, cochair of the council, says the members plan to take an active role in increasing math and science education.

"We want to provide the industry with more native-born engineers," he says. "Obviously, we would like to see more people go into technical fields."

According to Kvamme, only 17 percent of students graduating in the United States have the ability to hold information technology jobs. But the council has plans to increase that number to 60 percent.

The key is to get more children interested in math and science at early ages, says Grant Mydland, manager of government relations for CompTIA, a group of high-tech companies dealing with government policy.

"We need to make sure that there are teachers that can inspire and motivate kids, who will be able to hunker down and master these topics," Mydland adds. "We still have an IT worker shortage, and we're depending on the private sector for training."

Staff Shortages Expected

There will be 950,000 such jobs created over the next few years, and with the country's current workforce, just 450,000 of those jobs will be filled, he says.

The administration is also trying to open new markets that will be critical to the growth of America's high-tech industries.

"Trade spurs innovation, which creates jobs and prosperity," says Jimmy Orr, a White House spokesperson. "We want to reform our export control policy by significantly narrowing the scope of restrictions on commercial products, such as high-speed computers."

Mehlman, the Commerce official who acts as a link to the government for the private sector, says the combination of education and increasing trade is an opportunity for high-tech businesses to expand.

"Education, trade, and accessing foreign markets is where the real growth is," he says.

However, critics say Bush's initiatives are behind schedule.

"We should have more to work with at this front," says Ari Schwartz, spokesperson for the Center for Democracy and Technology, an organization promoting civil liberties in a digital age. "The tax issue was very big, the budget was a very big issue, but no one was focused on the technology front."

Schwartz says the administration has just started to discuss hot topics such as privacy, cyber-crime, and broadband.

"It's hard to give the administration a grade," Schwartz says. "If anything, it's an incomplete."