10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds Science And Math Scholarship Act

Floor Speech

10,000 TEACHERS, 10 MILLION MINDS SCIENCE AND MATH SCHOLARSHIP ACT -- (House of Representatives - April 24, 2007)

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Mr. MEEKS of New York. Mr. Chairman, our Nation's scientific and technological innovation has been a key source of our global economic competitiveness, but I fear that our competitiveness is in jeopardy because America's K-12 students are being underserved in math and sciences. If we do not provide our students with adequate education resources, we jeopardize our future economic prosperity.

H.R. 362, 10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds bill is a key step towards providing our students with the quality education needed to maintain our Nation's global competitiveness. We are facing a crisis in our schools because math and science college graduates are not being attracted to teaching careers. Too often, math and science teachers are instructing outside of their fields.

American students are facing a future of job competition on a global scale. In a global economy, highly educated workers from anywhere in the world can compete for America's high-skilled and high-paying jobs. To have a prosperous economy in which all segments of the population can compete for high-paying jobs, we need schools with well-placed labs and science programs.

H.R. 362 will promote the educational experience that all our youth deserve, being taught by competent math and science teachers, and this bill will provide universities and teacher preparation programs the incentives to track more math and science college graduates and prepare them for their successful teaching careers. The bill will also increase professional development resources for math and science teachers already instructing in America's neediest schools.

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