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Senator STAFFORD. You have to be fairly on in years to remember that. [Laughter.]

Senator STAFFORD. Senator Hart, we are delighted you have time to be with us this morning and we would be very glad to hear your testimony at this time.

This is another instance, I would say, ladies and gentlemen, where the Chair of this subcommittee is going to pay particular attention to the witnesses because Senator Hart also shares membership on the Environment and Public Works Committee, where we have labored together for a number of years.

Senator Hart, we are very happy you are here this morning.

STATEMENT OF HON. GARY HART, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF COLORADO

Senator HART. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for your hospitality and, most of all, for holding these hearings.

For those of us who have been concerned with and, to a degree, identified with the broad range of education issues over the years and who particularly resisted for the last couple of years talk of abolishing the Department of Education and cutting funds for education, we are extremely pleased to see the number of Members of Congress now who have reawakened to the broad range of education issues and are beginning themselves not only to support measures put forward by some of us, but to introduce many of their own. I think the committee is very timely taking up that broad range of new initiatives.

We are all encouraged by this first series of hearings. We have all seen statistics indicating our children are falling behind in their learning of subjects having to do particularly with math and science and foreign language.

The Chairman and Senator Pell particularly over the years have demonstrated a concern about these areas and provided leadership therein.

We are all aware of the corresponding shortage of teachers, particularly, in these areas. Yet, we do not know the full scope of the situation, and I think these hearings will provide the base of data necessary to act.

As you know, the House recently passed a short-term, low-cost bill. Perhaps it is appropriate at this time, given increasing concern about the depth of the education problem, but I think we have to go much beyond this to some comprehensive, long-term approach. It is in that context that I am here this morning to support a measure which I reintroduced in February called the American Defense Education Act of 1983, which is essentially the same bill introduced about a year ago in the last session of Congress.

There was not any action on that bill, unfortunately, in the 97th Congress, but 12 of our colleagues have now joined as cosponsors of the measure.

I think, Mr. Chairman, you would agree with me that education is probably the best investment our Government and our society can make in its future. It is a national priority that must be reestablished and promoted by the highest levels of our Government. It

is, as President Kennedy said 20 years ago, both the foundation and the unifying force of our democratic life.

Responsibility for our children's education is a shared responsibility. It rests on families, on communities, and on governments, all levels of governments. The American Defense Education Act draws on all three to meet the challenge of educating our children at a time when our Nation's economic and technological and defense needs are greater than at almost any other period in history.

The bill, as its title suggests, is patterned after the one that the chairman and Senator Domenici were referring to, or at least the period of the post-Sputnik period, the National Defense Education Act of 1958.

Today, we live in a period in which our economy is being so rapidly transformed that we can barely keep up. The transformation is probably as dramatic as it was during the industrial revolution of the 19th century. It is an economy shifting from primary reliance on heavy industry and basic manufacturing to increasing concentration on advanced and new technologies, information, communication, and services.

The opportunity for jobs and for economic growth and prosperity in this new economy depend more heavily than ever on our minds and not on our might or our muscle. Today, we have to rely on brainpower more than horsepower. And, of course, education and training is the key to that brainpower.

Unfortunately, as a country, we are failing to make the investment in education that is needed. Just when the information revolution requires all Americans to increase their competence in science and mathematics and technical skills, and when economic interdependence obliges us to master other languages to compete effectively abroad, we are letting our technical schooling erode and our foreign language studies decline.

There are some sobering statistics, according to the National Science Foundation. Between 1960 and 1977, almost two decades, the proportion of public high school students, grades 9 through 12, enrolled in science and mathematics courses declined from 60 to 48 percent in the case of science.

There has been a steady decline in the science achievement scores of the U.S. 17-year-old population, as measured in three national assessments of science in 1969, 1973, and 1977. Mathematics scores of 17-year-olds in this country declined significantly in two assessments of mathematics in 1973 and 1978. The decline was especially severe in the areas of problem solving and the applications of mathematics.

The mathematics and verbal scholastic aptitude test scores of students have declined steadily over an 18-year period through 1980. What is more dangerous is the fact that our toughest international competitors are doing exactly the opposite. They are devoting far more attention to educating their children in these vital

areas.

One-half of all high school students in the United States take no mathematics or science beyond the 10th grade. In contrast, the Japanese secondary schools require nearly all the college-bound students to take three natural science courses and four mathematics courses during their 3-year high school career.

The Soviet Union, considered at least by this administration to be our principal competitor and opponent, has instituted a general curriculum at the primary and secondary levels which, in terms of its heavy focus on science and technology, is the most advanced in the world.

In addition to 2 years of calculus, all students in the Soviet Union are required to complete 5 years of physics, 4 years of chemistry, 4 years of biology, and 5 years of algebra.

It is not just the major industrialized countries either; it is other nations around the world that are working hard to prepare their young citizens for the future. I would like to just highlight, if I may, one such instance that I am aware of.

Kien Pham is an intern in my office this year. He was educated in the public schools of South Vietnam before escaping by boat with three dozen members of his family in 1977, successfully, I am glad to report.

The education he received in mathematics, science, and foreign languages from the public school system of this small, war-torn nation was superior to the average education in America today.

Earlier, I quoted the National Science Foundation when I stated one-half of all high school students in the United States take no mathematics or science beyond the 10th grade. By comparison, in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades, Kien took mathematics, natural science, physics, chemistry, French, and English. It is important to note that this was the standard curriculum for all students in his class in the public schools of his nation.

Six months after his arrival in this country, Kien took the American College Test for admission to the University of Colorado. He scored in the 95th percentile in mathematics and slightly below norm in English. Apparently, his education in Vietnam was more than adequate.

Not surprisingly, our national inattention to science and mathematics is matched by a dangerous decline in the number of qualified teachers in this area. Further statistics by the National Science Foundation show that in 1981, 43 States of 45 responding reported a shortage of mathematics teachers. In the same year, 50 percent of the teachers newly employed nationwide to teach secondary science and math are actually uncertified to teach those subjects.

These statistics are alarming and could be devastating for this country's future. The situation demands an immediate national response. The American Defense Education Act is one such response and is designed to meet the specific shortfall that I have documented here this morning.

The American Defense Education Act provides that local school districts develop and implement programs in elementary and secondary schools to improve instruction and student achievement in mathematics, science, foreign languages, communications skills, and technology.

During each fiscal year, school districts, working with the ADEA program will be entitled to a basic payment based on the average per pupil expenditure in the State, and for those which can show substantial evidence that the program meets the ADEA goals for the year, an additional payment is available.

The bill encourages institutions of higher education to coordinate efforts with local school districts for the training and retraining of teachers through workshops, summer institutes, and inservice training.

Lastly, Mr. Chairman, the American Defense Education Act authorizes funds through the National Institute of Education to support research and development into effective teaching and learning techniques in math, science, and these other vital subjects.

The American Defense Education Act establishes an incentive program which is necessary to give needed Federal impetus to enable our country to meet the demands placed on our educational system by the technological changes and revolutions we are experiencing in today's world.

It is vital to our national economic well-being and our national security that the Federal Government provide the incentive to local school districts to develop a program which will train our young people for tomorrow's world and will eventually reach the goal of establishing the first and best education system in the world.

Mr. Chairman, in closing, many of the measures, if not all of the measures, proposed to this subcommittee and in the Congress in the last few months are designed to address specific elements of the education shortfall, if not the education crisis.

The American Defense Education Act is designed fundamentally to lift all education boards across this country, and it is in that spirit that it is offered for your consideration, for consideration of the Congress, and I hope for enactment this year.

Thank you very much.

Senator STAFFORD. Thank you very much, Senator. As we told Senator Domenici, Senator Pell and I have a bill-Senator Domenici does, you do, and it will be our intention to review them all carefully, borrow any good ideas we see, and we will consider your proposal very carefully. We are very pleased that you found the time to join us in your very busy schedule.

Senator HART. My pleasure. I want to again say that all Senators, and I think the country, are aware of the work that Senator Pell has done throughout his public career, as well as you, Mr. Chairman. You have not, either of you, flagged in your commitment to education even during a period when it was popular to do

SO.

Senator PELL. Thank you very much indeed. I concur in what the chairman said. We hope to weave together these different approaches and make a good bill out of it. I remember being in Moscow when Sputnik went up and the exhilaration that that gave to the Soviet people. The spur that it gave to us-we created the National Defense Education Act out of it-was very necessary, and we need another spur. Maybe these bills and the public sentiment at this time will be that spur.

Also, I remember handling the Hungarian refugee problems for the International Rescue Committee in Europe in 1956, and I noticed that those students, when they came to America to high school, although they could not speak the language, as soon as they got control of the language, they were usually 2 years ahead of our students, paralleling the very point that you made, Senator Hart.

Senator HART. Well, Mr. Chairman, I hope that we do not have to have another shock of the Sputnik sort to shock this Nation into

acting.

Senator PELL. Maybe these various approaches will do the trick. I hope so.

[Whereupon, Senator Pell assumed the Chair.]

Senator HART. I hope so.

Senator PELL. Thank you very much indeed.
Senator HART. Thank you, Senator.

Senator PELL. Is Senator Chiles in the room?

(No response.)

Senator PELL. If not, we will start with the first panel, and I would ask Dr. James Rutherford, Mr. Bill Aldridge, Dr. Stephen Willoughby and Dr. David Leeson if they would come forward, with the understanding that, as a matter of Senatorial courtesy, when Senator Chiles comes, they would step to one side.

Dr. Rutherford?

STATEMENT OF F. JAMES RUTHERFORD, CHIEF EDUCATION OFFICER, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, WASHINGTON, D.C.; BILL G. ALDRIDGE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON, D.C.; STEPHEN S. WILLOUGHBY, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF MATHEMATICS, WASHINGTON, D.C.; AND DAVID B. LEESON, PRESIDENT, CALIFORNIA MICROWAVE, INC., SUNNYVALE, CALIF., AND MEMBER, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, AMERICAN ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATION

Dr. RUTHERFORD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

It is a pleasure to be here, especially in contrast to some former years when my colleagues and I were here and found that it was difficult to get attention on these matters. I am just delighted that the Congress of the United States is really taking the leadership in this matter.

I would like to submit my testimony and deal with three points, if I may.

Senator PELL. Thank you.

Dr. RUTHERFORD. The first has to do with the current set of proposals in both Houses. I think that these are timely; I think they address in a beginning sort of way the issue that confronts us, and I do urge that the Congress, and the Senate, in particular, design a bill that will parallel what is in the House, so that by the time this Congress has finished its work, it will be possible actually to have a bill and be on the way.

[Whereupon, Senator Stafford resumed the Chair.]

Senator STAFFORD. Dr. Rutherford, with apologies from Senator Pell and myself, we see that Senator Chiles has come in. Would the panel be willing to step aside, or lay the matter temporarily aside, as we say here, and allow Senator Chiles to testify?

Dr. RUTHERFORD. Yes.

Senator STAFFORD. Senator Chiles, we are very happy that you found time on an extraordinarily busy morning for all of us to appear here.

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