SHARON SHANKS | The Cosmos Hey, Mr. Bush, give our kids the stars

March 11, 2001
Dear President Bush:
Please keep my tax cut. I don't want the money. Use it instead for something more important to me: Please send my kids to the moon.
I read with interest your "Agenda for Tax Relief," and applaud your intent. I realize that the tax cuts are still in the proposal stage, that you still have to get your tax relief idea and the entire federal budget measure passed by Congress. I wish you the best of luck.
Meanwhile, remember to add one tiny little line exempting me from the tax cuts. I would rather have my money given to NASA with the promise that they will send all 7,000 of my kids to the moon.
I realize some explanation is in order. As a planetarium lecturer, I see more than 7,000 schoolchildren each year, and that number is steadily growing. They're all my kids, each and every bright and shining face turned to the wonder of the stars. The children in the lower grades, from preschool to fourth grade, are simply awed by the stars. Do you know the phrase "his/her face lit up?" I've seen that happen time and again when the mystery and challenge of space capture a young mind. Their faces literally glow.
Know the reality: My kids in fifth and sixth grade, however, have changed. They're starting to realize that the closest they'll ever get to space is in the planetarium. They grow up so fast, these kids today. They read and watch the news, they observe their parents and other adults, and they know by seventh grade that our nation's heart isn't in space. It's in petty squabbling, fingerpointing, sports, and tabloid exploits by the rich and famous.
By high school, some of the wonder has returned, but it's showing in such a small number of faces. With that wonder is determination, and I'm heartened by it. In the rest of the faces is a sort of blankness. It's the look of complacency, atrophied ambition, and disinterest. The enthusiastic joy of the third grader is completely gone in a few short years.
Keep my tax cut. Send my kids to Mars.
Reachable goal: It's no secret that our nation's students are falling behind in math and science. The word "education" is now often seen in the company of the word "reform." Yes, we need educational reform in math and science, but maybe the best way of solving the problem is to give our students a reason to study math and science. Let's give them Mars.
Math and science blossomed after Sputnik. Public school students in the early 1960's had a reason to excel in math and science: they had to get to the moon. The president said we were going to the moon before the decade was out, and that was a concrete, clear goal. It was something for students to work toward.
Today, what answer can we give our kids when they ask, "Why do I have to learn math/science?" "Because they're important life skills," we answer. But, when it comes down to the blunt truth, they know we're lying. Is knowing the carbon cycle in plants going to help our kids get jobs? Besides being able to estimate how much money they'll need for a date, making change at a fast food restaurant, and maybe balancing their checkbooks, do they really need algebra? Linear equations? Graphing?
Reason to excel: We teach our kids math and science in the hopes that they'll go on to careers that will use these skills and become productive, valuable members of our society. They'll solve the world's energy and pollution problems, create new drugs, invent artificial gravity. But without a reason to do those great and lofty things, how many kids will rise to the challenge? A very few, and only those who have been motivated at the right age, have a strong sense of determination, and are supported by parents and teachers.
If we set the goal of sending humans to Mars by, let's say the year 2025, there will be an entirely new reason to study math and science. Even if all 7,000 of my kids can't go to Mars, a large number of them can work on the support teams needed to get humans there. They'll be the engineers, biologists, dietitians, plumbers, electricians, concrete workers, laboratory technicians, and so many other skilled workers that will be needed in the overall effort.
Keep my tax cut. Send my kids into orbit.
Budget minded: I noticed that you've also directed NASA to stay within its budget with the International Space Station. Yes, I know that the ISS project might overrun its budget by $4 billion over the next five years, and this means that several components of the station may have to be dropped.
That's a little unfair, however. NASA and the government contractors who set up the proposed budget had to make estimates of something they had no way of predicting: like how long it would take to develop the station components, how long they would take to build, and what problems would crop up along the way. Yes, their crystal balls were a bit dusty and they didn't see all the variables; now they're being penalized.
Let the ISS go on as planned. It's such a vital first step toward the moon and Mars that cutbacks now will only delay our emergence as a space-faring people. Think of the message we're sending to our kids: "We're making a big deal out of finally establishing a permanent presence in space [even though it's only 200 miles above the surface of our planet], but you guys are spending too much money, so we've got to cut you off." What our kids hear: "We're not willing to spend the amount it will take to get us into space." We're talking the talk, but we're not walking the walk.
So, Dear President Bush, keep my tax cut. Give my kids the stars.