Obama wants US students to take on folks in Beijing, Bangalore

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Nov 5 (PTI) President Barack Obama Thursday
invoked Bangalore for the second time in six months when he
made a pitch for US schools to develop globally competitive
standards to help their students take on "folks in Beijing and
Bangalore".
Announcing a USD 4 billion federal educational aid to
encourage schools to raise their education standards, Obama
said America's prosperity has long rested on how well its
children are educated.
"I'm pleased to report that 48 states are now working to
develop internationally competitive standards -- because
these young people are going to be growing up in a global
environment where they're competing not just against kids in
Chicago or Los Angeles for jobs, but they're competing against
folks in Beijing and Bangalore," Obama said.
He was speaking after announcing the USD 4 billion
federal educational aid 'Race to Top' programme for students
at a middle school in Madison, Wisconsin.
In May this year, month Obama came out with a 'Say No to
Bangalore and yes to Buffalo' rhetoric.
At a White House event to unveil tax reforms aimed at
forcing American multinationals to pay corporate taxes -- and
keep jobs -- at home, Obama lashed out at the current US
system, saying it encouraged paying "lower taxes if you create
a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo,
New York."
"In the 21st century, when countries that out-educate us
today will out-compete us tomorrow, there is nothing that will
determine the quality of our future as a nation and the lives
our children will lead more than the kind of education that we
provide them. Nothing is more important," he said. (MORE) PTI