Open email to
Congress:
In the June 17 issue of C&E News, it was
reported that Pres. Obama surprised the
educational community by proposing some significant changes in the federal
education program. The President wants
to cut the total number of federal education programs from the current 226 to
110. Great! However, he would also increase federal funding for science
education to $3.4 billion from $2.9 billion last year. Bad
news!.
How
does Pres. Obama get involved in science education in universities? He does so through the various agencies, which have
been created by Congress and which then have developed grant programs whereby
they give significant amounts of taxpayer funds to universities. This has been a
bad move by Congress, and I have said many times before that the federal
government should have no involvement in using taxpayer funds for federal
education programs. The average American citizen is well able to handle his own
education program.
The President's plan also proposes that the various grants
for education purposes should be removed from the various agencies and
consolidated in the Department of Education. That's good news, because if
there's one agency that we should dispose of, it is the Department of
Education.
Other
good news is that skepticism of the general education program has already
started in Congress through the House of Representatives Science, Space, and
Technology Committee.
In the same issue of C&E News, it is reported that the American Chemical Society's Committee on Professional Training (CPT) has developed guidelines and a review program to determine whether the undergraduate chemistry program at universities meets and remains in compliance with requirements related to faculty and staff, infrastructure, curriculum, undergraduate research, and student development. More simply, the American Chemical Society has taken a leadership position in developing and continuing to develop adequate educational programs within the universities, without any input from the federal government. I also suspect that similar organizations in physics and mathematics have had strong inputs to the educational programs of the universities.
On this basis, I strongly urge Congress and particularly the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology to immediately start efforts to not only defund any federal programs related to education, but also to begin elimination of the Department of Education. Private industry and the public can well handle all requirements, without government intervention.
In the same issue of C&E News, it is reported that the American Chemical Society's Committee on Professional Training (CPT) has developed guidelines and a review program to determine whether the undergraduate chemistry program at universities meets and remains in compliance with requirements related to faculty and staff, infrastructure, curriculum, undergraduate research, and student development. More simply, the American Chemical Society has taken a leadership position in developing and continuing to develop adequate educational programs within the universities, without any input from the federal government. I also suspect that similar organizations in physics and mathematics have had strong inputs to the educational programs of the universities.
On this basis, I strongly urge Congress and particularly the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology to immediately start efforts to not only defund any federal programs related to education, but also to begin elimination of the Department of Education. Private industry and the public can well handle all requirements, without government intervention.
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