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BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2012-07-19 00:06
The Obama administration unveiled plans Wednesday to create an elite corps of master teachers, a $1 billion effort to boost U.S. students' achievement in science, technology, engineering and math.
The program to reward high-performing teachers with salary stipends is part of a long-term effort by President Barack Obama to encourage education in high-demand areas that hold the key to future economic growth — and to close the achievement gap between American students and their international peers.
Teachers selected for the Master Teacher Corps will be paid an additional $20,000 a year and must commit to participate multiple years. The goal is to create a multiplier effect in which expert educators share their knowledge and skills with other teachers, improving the quality of education for all students.
Speaking at a rally for his re-election campaign in San Antonio on Tuesday, Obama framed his emphasis on expanded education funding as a point of contrast with Republican challenger Mitt Romney, whom he accused of prioritizing tax cuts for the wealthy over reinvestment in the nation.
"I'm running to make sure that America has the best education system on earth, from pre-K all the way to post-graduate," Obama said. "And that means hiring new teachers, especially in math and science."
The administration will make $100 million available immediately out of an existing fund to incentivize top-performing teachers. Over the longer term, the White House said it plans to launch the program with $1 billion included in Obama's budget request for fiscal year 2013.
But the House and Senate both voted down Obama's budget earlier in the year, making it far from certain that Obama will be able to get congressional approval to spend $1 billion on master teachers.
An aide to Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, noted that the federal government already has more than 80 teacher quality programs and said it would be foolish to pump money into programs that may be duplicative or unproductive.
"Republicans share the president's goal of getting better teachers in the classroom," said Kline spokeswoman Alexandra Sollberger. "However, we also value transparency and efficient use of taxpayer resources."
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said he expected the two parties to come together to support achievement in areas of high demand.
"This initiative has nothing to do with politics," Duncan said. "It's absolutely in our country's best long-term economic interest to do a much better job in this area."
A report released in February by the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology found that the U.S. must increase by 34 percent the number of students receiving degrees in science, math and related fields to keep up with economic demand.
The program will start with 2,500 teachers divided up among 50 different sites, the White House said, but will grow to include 10,000 teachers over the next four years. Obama, in partnership with a coalition of groups including the Carnegie Corporation of New York, has set a goal of producing 100,000 additional math and science teachers over the next 10 years.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/obama-proposes-1b-science-math-teachers-16799704#.UAdPRmGe6z5
yay
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Drizzit wrote on 2012-07-19 00:08
I tried getting a science degree, but calculus sucks ass.
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EndlessDreams wrote on 2012-07-19 00:15
Yay for promoting math/science in US education before they fall way far behind compared to those Asian countries.
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Blassreiter wrote on 2012-07-19 00:17
They should really increase the slot availability of classes. I'm on my second year and the entry calculus and physics classes are still all full. At this rate I'm going to stay an extra year or two.
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EndlessDreams wrote on 2012-07-19 00:22
Quote from Blassreiter;912674:
They should really increase the slot availability of classes. I'm on my second year and the entry calculus and physics classes are still all full. At this rate I'm going to stay an extra year or two.
Maybe because there is not enough teachers/professors teaching those classes at your school.
They usually start out full in the beginning of the semester. Suddenly, the class population disappears by half as you get further into the semester though... at least in college.
Also, if you directly talk to the professors, some of them might arrange something for you.
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Kingofrunes wrote on 2012-07-19 00:22
At least Obama is coming forth with an idea.
What's that Republicans?
You want to cut taxes for wealthy Americans while increasing military spending?!
Well fuck you guys too >.>
At least Obama knows what's important. Them Republicans on the other hand...
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Cynic wrote on 2012-07-19 00:23
It would be nice to make our education system less shitty in almost all areas, but this is an excellent start.
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Blassreiter wrote on 2012-07-19 00:49
Quote from EndlessDreams;912680:
Also, if you directly talk to the professors, some of them might arrange something for you.
Let me just say, there are assholes in this world. Assholes everywhere.
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Yoorah wrote on 2012-07-19 02:32
It's easy to say that this is a good thing, but...
the federal government already has more than 80 teacher quality programs and said it would be foolish to pump money into programs that may be duplicative or unproductive
...it's actually pretty dumb without looking at what's already available in the current system and checking if it needs reforming. I don't know what's really going on, but I have the feeling that this will just throw money at the problem without fixing the underlying issues. You don't try to patch a rusty pipe with duck tape over and over again--you gotta replace the pipe.
If it really is an efficient, well-designed plan, then good for Obama. Otherwise, it just looks like a political statement for his re-election campaign.
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Sinned wrote on 2012-07-19 05:00
Get this man another term!
Hopefully they'll get math+science teachers to learn some teaching methods. From what I was told, all you need to teach at a uni is a PhD which doesn't mean that you can pass on knowledge, just means you know it and can work with it.
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RebeccaBlack wrote on 2012-07-19 23:24
I'm skeptical.
I'm gonna agree with Yoorah here and say it'd be better to work on the system before we throw more money at it. Will it help? Maybe. But honestly, it probably won't do a whole lot. It'd be a lot more helpful to think about what we're already doing with our money in regards to education and how it could be done better.
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Cynic wrote on 2012-07-19 23:37
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RebeccaBlack wrote on 2012-07-20 02:47
Dammit, I wrote up a post and it didn't go through. When I hit the back button, it was gone.
Well, long story short, what I was saying is by focusing on superficial things like scoring well on a test that they've just crammed information for, we're going backwards rather than forwards. So basically, that is the problem. And the whole system is screwed as a result.
Would elaborate, but I'm too lazy after the long post failed. I might come back to explain it in more detail another day or something.
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Episkey wrote on 2012-07-20 03:08
Science and Math?
I'm going to be a Chemistry Teacher ... so - good for me. But, what about English and the Arts?
Because America sure as heck needs funding in those two categories. I feel it's even a more urgent need than Math and Science.
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Kollin wrote on 2012-07-20 03:40
Quote from Episkey;913631:
Science and Math?
I'm going to be a Chemistry Teacher ... so - good for me. But, what about English and the Arts?
Because America sure as heck needs funding in those two categories. I feel it's even a more urgent need than Math and Science.
The entire educational system in general needs an overhaul.