Bush Proposes Steps to Boost Math and Science Teaching

In his State of the Union Address on Jan. 31, President Bush stressed a need for global competitiveness that starts with improved mathematics and science education for American students. He called for adding 70,000 teachers in those subjects to allow more low-income children to have access to Advanced Placement courses, among other specific proposals.

Nearly three-quarters of the way through a speech that touched on the nation’s war against terrorism, the need to reform Social Security, and the fight against AIDS, Mr. Bush said it was imperative that U.S. students receive a “firm grounding in math and science.”

As part of a sweeping new American Competitiveness Initiative, which includes a proposal for new money to increase federal research in the physical sciences over the next decade, the president said students must be encouraged to take more math and science courses and such courses must be “rigorous enough to...