[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 133 (Wednesday, December 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S11243]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  IMPROVING AMERICA'S EDUCATION SYSTEM

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, for 12 years, I have served the people of 
Tennessee as a U.S. Senator. Before I joined this body, I spent 20 
years practicing medicine--as a transplant surgeon.
  But I spent even more time--nearly 30 years--getting the education 
necessary for me to pursue a career at the cutting edge of transplant 
surgery.
  Without that education, I couldn't have pursued my dream of helping 
people.
  The fact is, education is an essential cornerstone in our society. 
Not just in the United State,s but around the world--across the global 
society.
  Not only does a sound education increase the global competitiveness 
of America's workforce, but it also enables each and every worker to 
pursue the American dream, in his or her own way.
  Here in America, we have a rich history of working hard. We set 
goals. We visualize dreams. And then we doggedly pursue them, with 
stubborn perseverance.
  But as hard as we work, unless we possess the tools and the knowledge 
and the ``know how,'' we are not optimizing our resources. That means 
it is our best interest to pursue the best education possible. It is in 
our best interest to strengthen our education system so we can better 
equip future generations.
  That is why I have supported a number of measures that enhance 
America's education system.
  Take the President's No Child Left Behind Act, which I proudly 
cosponsored. It set high standards for schools around the country. It 
is a comprehensive overhaul of the Federal Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act based on 4 pillars: accountability and testing, 
flexibility and local control, funding for what works, and expanded 
parental options.
  We laid the groundwork for No Child Left Behind with ED-Flex, to give 
States more flexibility in how they use Federal education dollars.
  More recently, we passed the first-ever comprehensive reform and 
improvement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
  We crafted this strongly bipartisan legislation with input from 
parents, educators, and disability groups--with the primary goal of 
ensuring disabled students are achieving.
  Streamlining regulations, simplifying and improving the integrity of 
the conflict resolution process, reducing the paperwork burden for 
special education teachers, improving existing discipline provisions 
while still ensuring disabled children's rights are protected--with 
every provision, we helped principals, teachers, and parents better 
address the needs of disabled students.
  Enhancing and strengthening our Nation's education system must occur 
at every level--primary, secondary, and beyond, in colleges and 
universities.
  My SMART grant legislation took education reform to the university 
level, and without a doubt, among the education improvements I have 
supported over the years, SMART grants hold pride of place in my heart.
  SMART grants are a new student aid initiative that provide incentives 
for promoting math and science education and consequently represent a 
dramatic step toward ensuring America's future global economic 
competitiveness.
  Let me put it in perspective: China and India generate scientists and 
engineers at a furious pace while America lags dangerously behind.
  We haven't reached the crisis point yet. We still have the best 
research universities in the world. We take home the lion's share of 
Nobel prizes in the sciences. We lead the planet in most high-tech 
fields. And we produce more top scientists and engineers per capita 
than any country with an economy even close to our size.
  But for every one engineer we graduate in America, China graduates 
eight and India graduates four.
  SMART grants help America maintain our competitive edge by providing 
aid to Pell grant-eligible students who maintain a 3.0 GPA and major in 
math, science, engineering, technology, or foreign languages critical 
to national security during their third and fourth years of college.
  These funds help incentivize more students to major in these time-
intensive studies and they help America produce the quality workforce 
necessary to compete in today's global economy.
  But there is still more Congress can do to strengthen our education 
system and further enhance our America's competitiveness.
  Right now, we stand at a crossroads. Unless we continue moving to 
improve our education system at all leve1s, we could very well face 
economic stagnation and a loss of global scientific leadership.
  We can't afford to let that happen.

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