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Newt Gingrich on Education
Former Republican Representative (GA-6) and Speaker of the House
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America’s high schools are obsolete
America’s high schools are obsolete and cannot teach kids what they need to know to succeed today. Winning the challenge of China and India will require profound domestic transformations, especially in math and science education, for America to continue
to be the most successful economy in the world. The collapse of math and science education in the US and the relative decline of investment in basic research is an enormous strategic threat to American national security. There is a grave danger that
the US will find itself collapsing in scientific and technological capabilities in our lifetime.
This is among the most important decisions our generation will make about our country’s future and our children’s future. For the last twenty years, we
have tried to improve education while accepting the fundamental principles of a failed system, guarded by the education bureaucrats and teachers unions. We must now transform math and science education or fall behind. It really is that simple.
Source: Gingrich Communications website, www.newt.org, “Issues”
Sep 1, 2007
Pay kids as incentive to learn math and science
Keeping America competitive in the twenty-first century is dependent upon having increasing number of students studying math and science. Getting students to study math and science may be done through incentives. We should experiment with paying students
for taking difficult subjects in math and science. The long and difficult road to becoming a PhD in math or chemistry has virtually no support in these neighborhoods nor is it presented as an attractive way out. But, if as early as seventh grade there
were some economic reward for learning math and science, which competes head to head with McDonalds, the signal sent would be immediate and dramatic. If the rewards went up as the classes grew more difficult we would have students pouring into math and
science instead of fleeing it. We should therefore conduct a pilot project to see if this approach can be successful. And we should begin by targeting a poor inner city district where the potential for sending a strong signal is perhaps strongest.
Source: Gingrich Communications website, www.newt.org, “Issues”
Sep 1, 2007
Removing God from Pledge of Allegiance assaults our identity
There is no attack on American culture more destructive and more historically dishonest than the relentless effort to drive God out of America’s public square. The 2002 decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the phrase “under God” is
unconstitutional represents a fundamental assault on our American identity. A court that would unilaterally modify the Pledge of Allegiance as adopted by the Congress in 1954, signed by President Eisenhower, and supported 91% of the American people is a
court that is clearly out of step with an America that understands that our unalienable rights come from God. How can the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, overrule the culture & maintain its moral authority? It can’t. The Supreme Court begins
each day with the proclamation “God save the United States and this honorable Court.” This phrase was not adopted as a ceremonial phrase of no meaning: it was adopted because justices in the 1820s actually wanted to call on God to save the US & the Court
Source: Rediscovering God in America, by Newt Gingrich, p. 6
Dec 31, 2006
Removing “God” from Pledge assaults our identity
There is no attack on American culture more destructive and more historically dishonest than the secular Left’s relentless effort to drive God out of America’s public square. The 2002 decision by the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the phrase “under God” is unconstitutional represents a fundamental assault on our American identify. A court that would unilaterally modify the Pledge of Allegiance as adopted by the Congress in 1954, signed by
President Eisenhower, and supported by 91% of the American people is a court that is clearly out of step with an
America that understands that our unalienable rights come from God.
Source: Rediscovering God in America, by Newt Gingrich, p. 6
Dec 31, 2006
Replace multiculturalism with patriotic education
In the classroom, the very concept of America is under assault. The traditional notion of our country as a union of one people, the American people, has been assaulted by multiculturalism, situational ethics, and a values-neutral model in which Western
values and American history are ignored or ridiculed. Unless we act to reverse this trend, our next generation will grow up with no understanding of core American values. This will destroy America as we know it, as surely as if a foreign conqueror had
overwhelmed us.It is absolutely necessary to establish a firm foundation of patriotic education upon which further knowledge can be built; otherwise, Americans will lack understanding of American values & how important & great it is to be an American.
It is important to understand what makes America so unique and why generations of diverse people immigrated to this great land for freedom and opportunity. If Americans do not appreciate America, then how can they be ready and willing to defend her?
Source: Rediscovering God in America, by Newt Gingrich, p.133-134
Dec 31, 2006
Reference to God in Pledge of Allegiance is not ceremonial
The Pledge of Allegiance does not contain a “ceremonial” reference to God. The term under God was inserted deliberately by Congress to draw the distinction between atheistic tyranny (the Soviet Union) and a free society whose freedoms were based on the
God-given rights of each person. As the report accompanying the law asserted: “From the time of our earliest history, our peoples and our institutions have reflected the traditional concept that our Nation was founded on a fundamental belief in God.”
Source: [X-ref Homeland] Gingrich Communications website, newt.org
Dec 1, 2006
Introduce competition among schools and teachers
We should apply the free enterprise system to our education system by introducing competition among schools, administrators, and teachers. Our educators should be paid based on their performance and held accountable based on clear standards with
real consequences.These ideas are designed to stimulate thinking beyond the timid “let’s do more of the same” that has greeted every call for rethinking math and science education.
Source: Gingrich Communications website, www.newt.org
Dec 1, 2006
Encourage private sector in math and science education
We should reward and encourage private sector participation in math and science education. We should provide a tax credit to corporations that fund basic research in science and technology at our nation’s universities. Graduates willing to
stay in math and science fields should pay zero interest on their student loans until their incomes reach four times the national average income. This would encourage students to stay in these needed fields and continue to pursue knowledge.
Source: Gingrich Communications website, www.newt.org
Dec 1, 2006
Waive interest on student loans for math & science grads
The inability of our system to produce mathematicians & scientists posed a threat to our national security in the highest order.It is an objective reality that we are not producing enough educated 18-year olds capable of sustaining this society in the
21st century.
The depth of this problem dictates that we must be bold in finding a solution. This includes serious considerations of notions like waiving interest on student loans for undergraduates that major in math or science.
We must rethink how
we educate our children in math and science. In my judgment it is harder than most other kinds of learning. There are many reasons in a wealthy society that people at the margins do not go into math or science. One is the fact that there is no immediate
advantage to majoring in something that is harder and requires more work.
We should go beyond force-feeding numbers and theories to a level of discovery where a child wonders what the answers are and goes in search of them for the excitement of it.
Source: Saving Lives and Saving Money, by Newt Gingrich, p.180-182
Sep 22, 2003
Support charters; insist on change for failing schools
We should encourage the spread of public charter schools--one of the happiest new developments on the education scene--so parents, educators, & students working together can enjoy the maximum freedom to explore options and innovations until every child
has a genuine opportunity to learn. As a corollary of this, we must identify the worst schools. We should insist on immediate change for bad schools. To start with, there should be no tenure and no binding contracts in the worst 20% of schools.
Source: Lessons Learned the Hard Way, by Newt Gingrich, p.208
Jul 2, 1998
Private scholarships for students at hopeless schools
If there were families left without an acceptable public school, scholarships should be available for them to find a private one. I am a graduate of a public school, as are my wife and two daughters. All of us remain committed to the idea of public
education. However, if the available public school is one that gives parents legitimate worry for their children’s future, there ought to be alternative to having to stand helplessly watching an incompetent bureaucracy destroy their children’s lives.
Source: Lessons Learned the Hard Way, by Newt Gingrich, p.209
Jul 2, 1998
Voted YES on giving federal aid only to schools allowing voluntary prayer.
Motion to add language to the "Goals 2000: Educate America Act" to give federal aid only to schools allowing voluntary prayer.
Bill HR 1804
; vote number 1994-85
on Mar 23, 1994
Make employee educational assistance tax-deductible.
Gingrich co-sponsored making employee educational assistance tax-deductible
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to restore and make permanent the income tax exclusion of amounts paid under employer-provided educational assistance programs for employees.
Source: Employee Educational Assistance Act (H.R.127) 1993-H127 on Jan 5, 1993
Supports a Constitutional Amendment for school prayer.
Gingrich co-sponsored a resolution for a School Prayer Amendment:
H.J.RES.52 (2001), H.J.RES.66 (1999), S.J.RES. 1, H.J.RES.12, H. J. RES. 108, & H. J. RES. 55:
Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit individual or group prayer in public schools or other public institutions. No person shall be required by the United States or by any State to participate in prayer . Neither the United States nor any State shall compose the words of any prayer to be said in public schools.
H. J. RES. 78 (1997):To secure the people's right to acknowledge God according to the dictates of conscience: Neither the United States nor any State shall establish any official religion, but the people's right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage, or traditions on public property, including
schools, shall not be infringed. Neither the United States nor any State shall require any person to join in prayer or other religious activity, prescribe school prayers, discriminate against religion, or deny equal access to a benefit on account of religion.
Proposed Legislation:- H.J.RES.52, School Prayer Amendment, 6/13/2001 (Murtha)
- H.J.RES.12, School Prayer Amendment, 2/7/2001 (Emerson)
- S.J.RES.1, School Prayer Amendment, 1/22/2001 (Thurmond)
- H.J.RES.108, Voluntary School Prayer Amendment, 9/21/2000 (Graham)
- H.J.RES.55, Voluntary School Prayer Amendment, 2/13/1997 (Stearnes, Hall, Watts)
- H.J.RES.78, Amendment Restoring Religious Freedom, 5/8/1997 (Istook, et. al.)
Source: H.J.Res.78 97-HJR78 on May 8, 1997
Page last updated: Feb 08, 2010