Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

America's strategic and economic dominance over the last fifty years has been driven in large part by our preeminence in the fields of science and engineering. Discovery and invention have fueled business and helped create entirely new industries, from gene therapy to semiconductors, which in turn have created high paying jobs. But we cannot continue to be competitive as a nation if our citizens are not educated in the skills and the trades that matter in the global marketplace. On this front, our schools are failing our young people. Average New Jerseyans understand this, which is why a woman in Mercer County who had been recently laid off told me that she was not worried about herself. Instead, she was most concerned about her 8th grade granddaughter because the local schools were not teaching her the things she would need to know to find a job.

China and India are rapidly closing the gap between us and them. China now graduates four times the number of engineers as the U.S., and India graduates a million more students from college than we do. Yet we in America are wedded to an outdated and obsolete education system. Simply put, we are not doing the things necessary to make sure that little girl in Mercer County will have the tools to succeed.

If we are to remain competitive -- let alone retain our position of dominance -- these trends must be reversed. To do this, we will need to break free of the same tired arguments we have been hearing for decades. We need to radically reform our education system so every child in New Jersey and America has access to the best education in the world

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