Interesting quote from today’s big education announcement (MAKE is part of it!). Reminds me of when Dean Kamen says “We are what we celebrate”…
Mr. Obama said academics should be receiving an athletic-like focus. And as he presented a set of initiatives intended to improve the science and math scores of American students, he announced that the White House would begin holding an annual science fair starting next year.
“If you win the N.C.A.A. championships, you come to the White House. Well, if you’re a young person and you’ve produced the best experiment or design, the best hardware or software, you ought to be recognized for that achievement, too,” Mr. Obama said. “Scientists and engineers ought to stand side by side with athletes and entertainers as role models, and here at the White House, we’re going to lead by example.”
He added, “We’re going to show young people how cool science can be.”
Mr. Obama presented the “Educate to Innovate” campaign on Monday. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, was on hand, along with students and dozens of scientists and other administration officials. After speaking for about 15 minutes, the president inspected the “Cougar Cannon,” a device made by two students that is intended to scoop up and toss moon rocks.
16 thoughts on ““Scientists and engineers ought to stand side by side with athletes and entertainers as role models””
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Finally, a president that actually gets that sports and athletics are a complete waste of time in the first place. Personally I think that it should be taken a step further and competitive sports should be prohibited from schools completely.
You do, of course, see the irony in your statement, right? Budget cuts aside, that’s the *SAME* attitude that gets maths, sciences, arts and shop classes ruined in schools. “I don’t get it, I don’t like it, so it has no place here.”
Your sentiment is foolish and ignorant. I’m not a sports nut by any stretch of the imagination, but I certainly see the merit. All active outlets should be encouraged in school, not just the ones *you* see as important. Both need to be celebrated, as Phil said.
No^H^HAll offense intended, but you need to think a little.
Actually I do not have anything against sports in general. I have looked at it from many angles. Now look at it from this angle. School is supposed to be teaching our children how to make it in the real world. How exactly do sports do that? Aside from encouraging a competitive spirit what marketable skill do sports teach? None. There is nothing that sports teach our children that can help them make a living. There is nothing in sports that can help our kids survive. The only thing sports do is keep kids active and that can be accomplished in other ways like teaching our kids to hike or encourage the inventive things like building tall-bikes or strange means of transportation. A sufficiently stimulated mind can come up with all kinds of ways to stimulate the body.
I agree with Phillip that the article is geared towards celebrating both sports and science. Besides that the two students mentioned are from a FIRST robotics team. FIRST robotics in itself celebrates competitive spirit, the ability to work with other teams to accomplish a goal, and overall the drive to bring students into science and technology. Never does anyone in the article try to make ” competitive sports should be prohibited from schools”
@dman762000 – the way i read it – there’s a need to celebrate both…
Bingo. Hence why it says “… side by side with athletes and entertainers”, and not “in front of”, “on top of”, or “instead of”
The brain has been proven to work better if it is attatched to a healthy and fit body. Part of the problem is that we tend to separate athletics from science. They are best developed together, hence why we require student athletes to pass thier classes or face suspension from athletics.
Sports can’t be all bad. There seems to be a pretty big overlap with this culture and at least some sports. We’ve grown up reveling in the exploits of action heroes and adventurers.
I think dman762000 never figured out how to make sports more interesting to the more intellectual.