Buckle up, Indians and Chinese are coming: Obama to Americans , by 2030 the Chinese Economy is bigger than the USA

From: "Gordon"
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:19:41 +1000
Local: Sun, Jun 14 2009 6:19 am
Subject: Re: Buckle up, Indians and Chinese are coming: Obama to Americans , by 2030 the Chinese Economy is bigger than the USA

Malaysians too have to buckle up for the speed with which Malaysia is going
backwards will in a short time reduce the country to the dark ages.
Corruption is a great disease that is spreading amongst the populace at
unprescedented levels. There appears to be no shred of integrity amongst
the whole populace.

> ...Australia would always remain the nation of trolly pushers:

> Buckle up, Indians and Chinese are coming: Obama to Americans

> 12 Jun 2009, 0836 hrs IST, PTI

> WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has exhorted his countrymen to
> buckle
> up as the Indians and Chinese are catching them fast, as Americans
> have now settled into mediocrity.

> "Our kids are falling behind when it comes to science. We have kind of
> settled into mediocrity when we compare ourselves to other advanced
> countries and wealthy countries," Obama said in a town hall speech on
> health
> care in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

> "That's a problem because the reason that America over the last hundred
> years has consistently been the wealthiest nation is because we've also
> been
> the most educated nation," he said.

> "It used to be by a pretty sizable factor we had the highest high school
> graduation rates, we had the highest college graduation rates, we had the
> highest number of PhDs, the highest number of engineers and scientists,"
> Obama said.

> The President said though the Americans used to be "head and shoulders
> above" the people of other countries, especially in the field of
> education,
> they were fast losing that position.

> "So even with the good schools, we have got to pick up the pace, because
> the
> world has gotten competitive. The Chinese, the Indians, they are coming at
> us and they're coming at us hard, and they're hungry, and they're really
> buckling down," Obama said.

> Ever since he started his presidential campaign more than two years ago,
> Obama has been urging people in the US to gear up to match the increasing
> talent of the Chinese and Indian students. "Their kids watch a lot less TV
> than our kids do, play a lot fewer video games, they are in the classroom
> a
> lot longer," Obama said amidst applause.

> "So here's the bottom line. We've got to improve, we've got to step up our
> game -- which brings me to the next point in your question, which is, how
> do
> we do that? I agree with you that if all we're doing is spreading around a
> lot of standardised tests and teaching to the test, that's not improving
> our
> education system," he said.

> "We do need to have accountability, however. We do need to measure
> progress
> with our kids. Maybe it's just one standardised test, plus portfolios of
> work that kids are doing, plus observing the classroom. There can be a
> whole
> range of assessments, but we do have to have some kind of accountability,"
> Obama said.

> Secondly, Obama said there is need to upgrade the professional development
> for teachers. "we have got a lot of teachers who are well-meaning, but
> they
> are teaching science and they didn't major in science and they don't
> necessarily know science that well," he said.