Support Homeland Security and Education

SUPPORT HOMELAND SECURITY AND EDUCATION

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleges to support the Homeland Security Education Act. This bill encourages initiatives to increase the number of Americans trained in science, technology, engineering, math, and foreign languages.

Our security and economic future depends on the next generation of workers and their ability not just to keep up, but to innovate. Science and technology are the engines of economic growth. We must invest in our students and our educational system by providing the training and resources needed in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and foreign languages.

The United States graduates some of the world's best engineers, scientists and mathematicians; however, China, India, South Korea, and Japan are educating a higher proportion of their people in technology, science, and math. According to the National Science Board, in 2004, 59 percent of undergraduates in China and 66 percent of Japanese undergraduates received a degree in science and engineering. In the United States, only 32 percent of the undergraduate degrees awarded were in science and engineering. In 2004, China and India graduated over 600,000 and 350,000 engineers, respectively, while the United States graduated about 70,000 engineers.

In an increasingly global economy and an atmosphere of heightened security, we also need people who can speak a foreign language, particularly less commonly taught languages such as Arabic, Farsi, Chinese, and Korean. Al-Qaida operates in more than 75 countries where hundreds of languages and dialects are spoken. Half of all European citizens speak another language. In contrast, only 9 percent of American students enroll in a foreign language course in college. Even though enrollment in Arabic classes has increased, it represents less than 1 percent of all foreign language enrollments in institutions of higher education.

According to the National Education Association, while student enrollments in education are rising rapidly, more than a million veteran teachers are nearing retirement. Almost a third of our new teachers leave the profession after only 3 years. About half exit after five. We will need more than 2 million new teachers in the next decade. We are feeling this teacher recruitment challenge most acutely in high-need subject areas such as special education, math, science, engineering, and critical foreign languages.

The Homeland Security Education Act encourages the smart and eager students in our country to seek degrees in science, technology, engineering, math, and foreign languages by providing $5,000 scholarships to undergraduate students who obtain such degrees. Scientists, engineers, technology professionals and those fluent in foreign languages are encouraged to return to the classroom through $15,000 scholarships. New grant programs encourage educational institutions, public entities, and businesses to enter into partnerships that improve math and science curricula, establish programs that promote students' foreign language proficiency along with their science and technological knowledge, and create and establish foreign language pathways from elementary school through college.

The technological challenge to our country has been explored from many different angles--from the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, and the chairman of Intel, Craig Barrett, to the journalist and writer Tom Friedman and the National Academies of Science. The need to strengthen our students' proficiency in science, technology, engineering, math, and foreign languages is well documented. We can't afford not to invest in thoughtful Federal initiatives that foster the kind of technological innovation this country has grown up on. Research and development is critical, but it all starts in the schools. The Homeland Security Education Act will help put our resources where they are needed most.

http://thomas.loc.gov/