On 22 May, 20:06, Quadibloc wrote:
And this omission is common to John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and
George W. Bush as well.

But I'm picking on Barack Obama for two reasons.

In his statement on space policy, he did at least address the area I'm
discussing. He talked about the need to improve science education in
America, and he related that to NASA. He spoke of such things as a
plan to recruit teachers with science backgrounds, and certain other
measures.

The other reason is that I was reminded of this issue from a web site,
not officially related to Obama's campaign, but by a supporter of his.
One item on that site expressed annoyance that Hillary's campaign was
now asking pledged delegates to switch their votes. Another noted that
Obama should emphasize why he stands ahead of Hillary Clinton and John
Edwards instead of focusing on common ground and the general election
- so that was an old item.

On the bottom of that page was an item about a 14-year-old girl from
Brazil who was very bright, but was being failed by the school system.

It was noted that just as we mainstream the mentally-retarded these
days, at least since the mid-1980s, gifted students are not being
skipped grades any more; everyone is kept in classes by age.

While an Obama supporter might realize this is a problem, the idea of
using Federal funding for education to put a stop to that - perhaps
even to set up a system of special schools for students gifted in
science and engineering related abilities, so as to create the
manpower the nation urgently needs - well, the Soviet Union did that
sort of thing, but if *we* did it, it would be primitive and
fascistic, I suppose. Even G. W. Bush doesn't dare propose such
notions. So one can hardly expect them from Obama, I fear - and, of
course, those are the measures that would be genuinely effective,
instead of just looking pretty.

Ah: here's the original item. An article entitled "Failing our
Geniuses" by John Cloud, quoted in Laura Cole's pro-Obama blog.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/lauracole

John Savard

I must say I have written on similar lines myself, particularly with
reference to Maths. I am British and my remarks are therefore biased
to a British context, although it is relevant elsewhere. The
impression I get is that if a student is going to "nmake it" in
mathematics - Make it here means getting a good class of Maths degree
in a school with a good standard - Like Yale, Cal Tech and Oxford
(UK), they witll have the capacity to sit GCSE maths at 12. Every
single Maths student in a good university is at least 2 - 3 years
behind where they should be - in many cases a lot more.

Maths I understand is being taught like a game with various levels. If
students are being provided with thier own computers one can easily
see what level they are at. Computers maight well be the one thing
that could break down the PC educaton establishment. "We don't like
PCs - We ARE PC!". Still I suppose they could use the schools
censorship (we must protect our young people) to obstruct progress.

Another possibility is to broaden the outlook of students. There is a
violent video game that has potential. If instead of shooting people
up you had to read and write Arabic and convince tribal elders to
support you rather than Al Qaeda. That was the way you won and got to
the next level.

With Barack Obama I have another very specific comment. I know I have
mentioned tis before. He has a preacher that is quite extreme. How
this will affect his views on Evolution and Stem cell research I don't
know. The British Pariament has recently voted overwhemingly in favor
of such research. Barack is I feel someone who is a wonderful orator,
when you look closely at what he is offering he is in actual fact
offering less than either of the other two candidates.


- Ian Parker