Academy of Applied Science
SPARKS:2002
A Call for A Second Battle Front!
by Bob Rines, President
We are at war with terrorism, and, so far, our earlier superior inventions have enabled us to be effective with minimal human sacrifice.
On another front, we have talked and talked and appropriated and appropriated but our national science education effort has failed miserably to create a generation of superior science students, and, even more dangerously, is producing a future citizenry that will be scientifically ignorant.
Let's admit that our current educational ideas are stale and just not working. Let's look where science and invention encouragement IS working--at the Academy!
Let's open a second battle front and with dispatch. Let's conduct a concurrent war against a mediocre "dinosaur" science education system for our children. Let's re-instill the spark of creativity, invention and motivation that was the birthright of past generations that made us great and that the Academy is keeping alive.
The 2002 challenges I have made for the Academy are:
? A National Young Inventors' Center helping all willing elementary schools of the nation by year's end.
? Linking the 5000 high schools of our JSHS science research programs by the Academy's Global School District? Internet system to network the science students of America in continuous exciting creative exchange.
? Establishing a $10,000,000 endowment to protect our current educational youth science outreach programs from the potential vagaries of future funding grants; to be able to do more to educate the science teacher mentors of our JSHS, REAP and YIP programs in research techniques; and to spread our science dialoging Internet network, the Global School District?, amongst our-and ultimately the world's-science and invention-oriented youth, their teachers and schools.
? Getting our message to philanthropists, foundations and institutions, which are thirsting to be more creative and effective with their funding, and can be readily shown that their support can actually spark a domino (if not an avalanche) effect, in the unusually capable hands of our Academy and its unparalleled program successes and thrusts.
For 2002--less terrorism--more invention and science stimulation!
Help us make it happen.
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