Education for more competitive America and better future.pptVIP

Education for more competitive America and better future Barack Obama March 13, 2010 Lost in the news of the week was a headline that ought to be a source of concern for every American.? It said, “Many Nations Passing U.S. in Education.”?? Now, debates in Washington tend to be consumed with the politics of the moment: who’s up in the daily polls; whose party stands to gain in November.? But what matters to you – what matters to our country – is not what happens in the next election, but what we do to lift up the next generation.? And the fact is, there are few issues that speak more directly to our long term success as a nation than issues concerning the education we provide to our children.? note GI Bill，《退伍军人权利法案》，其中的GI，Government/ General Issue，指美国大兵。为避免重蹈一战后的覆辙，在战争结束后，胜利国的大批退伍军人返回故土，却面临失业等窘境，进而引发一系列社会问题，1944年罗斯福总统签署该法案，对二战后美国社会影响巨大，各位可以自己查询一些相关资料，比如简单搜索：退伍军人权利法案+美国社会。 note Its education benefits threw open the doors of elite academies to the masses: in 1947, veterans made up almost half the nation’s college students. It also offered low-interest, no-money-down mortgages, backed by the US government, that allowed millions of families to purchase their first homes. The move helped spark the postwar baby boom and the suburbanization of American in the 1950s: it effectively created the American middle class. note GI Bill不仅指为退伍军人提供进高校学习的机会，也包括无息零首付的购房贷款、就业培训、优先就业机会、创业贷款等，在美国中产阶级形成的过程中起到了举足轻重的作用。 The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act 这是GI Bill的官方名称，让我想到我们国家的“退伍军人安置条例”等说法。Senators Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel 两位参议院重提GI Bill，希望增加退伍老兵的教育福利。Webb-Hagel GI Bill也引发了民主党和共和党总统竞选者之间的辩论。This is about taking care of the people who have taken care of us. 这句来自Jim Webb. Our prosperity in the 20th century was fueled by an education system that helped grow the middle class and unleash the talents of our people more fully and widely than at any time in our history.? We built schools and focused on the teaching of math and science.? We helped a generation of veterans go to college thro