MIT, Harvard Presidents Share a Historical View

MIT President Susan Hockfield and Harvard President Drew Faust co-authored a Boston Globe op-ed that takes a historical look at America’s ability to recovery from crises and points to the role of education in creating waves of innovation. Here are excerpts:

 

"‘THE FIRST step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation,’’ President Obama said to a concerned nation in his State of the Union address. Our nation has a remarkable record of rising from the ashes of crisis, and education and research in science and engineering have often led those revivals of prosperity and morale. Of the world’s top 20 research universities, the United States claims 17. As leaders of two, we know our institutions must play a central role in helping America to rebuild....

"To accelerate the next innovation wave, the United States must invest ambitiously in basic and applied research.

"Innovation requires innovators—and that demands an intense national focus on education. According to a recent study out of Harvard, Stanford and the University of Munich, Massachusetts’ fourth- and eighth-graders outperform those in every other US state in math.

"Massachusetts didn’t hold this lead 10 years ago, but a decade of education reform raised the bar for teachers and set high standards for students. We should replicate progress like this across the United States now. And we must aim higher still, because while Massachusetts students may lead the nation, they lag their peers in 16 other countries. For millions of Americans, education has been an elevator of opportunity—and we must ensure that the next generation has the same opportunities, whether through traditional models of education or new online options...."

Read the full text  of "Riding the innovation wave."