Recently I have been asked to respond to various questions posed by media organizations on my views on certain issues. This is the fifth, and last, in a series of blogs in which I will share my answers to some of those questions. Last up: "If elected, how would you propose to ensure the U.S. has an educational system that makes the nation competitive on an international basis?"
Congress can make the educational system for grades K-12 more effective by letting local governments and states have full control over the funding and goals of K-12 education. On the university/college level, Congress must continue funding critical research, such as that conducted under the National Science Foundation. The NSF was founded in 1950 to "promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense." The NSF funds research in the fields of computer science, mathematics, economics and social sciences, ensuring that Americans remain in the forefront of technological and other advances.
The federal government has a role in higher education, funding research in our colleges and universities and ensuring access to higher education through student loans to our citizens who are interested in pursuing a college degree but could not afford to without a loan. Congress created student loans in 1958 in the National Defense Education Act, which recognized the importance to this country of supporting higher education.
I am one of only two Republican congressional candidates to support a continuing role for the federal government in higher education. At the candidate forum sponsored on July 19th by the University of Missouri Extension Service of Southwest Missouri and KOLR10, I was the first candidate to argue in favor of maintaining the federal role in higher education as being critical for the nation's future. All of the other Republican candidates (except for the senator from Joplin) advocated for elimination of federal funding in higher education. I believe it would devastate our ability to compete in commerce and defend ourselves if we were to adopt such a short- sighted view of removing all federal involvement in higher education.
