President Barack Obama has proposed new reading and math standards in the No Child Left Behind act to make younger students more college or career ready by the time they graduate from high school. Under the Bush Administration, the law required that the students met challenging standards; but the act failed to specify what and how challenging those standards were.

Consequently, some schools offered a rigorous curriculum while others taught the bare minimum, if that at all. In our current economic state, it would be beneficial to our country and our community if our students were taught higher level reading, writing and mathematics skills. To contend effectively with technologically advanced countries and improve the world, the U.S. needs a stronger educational program.

Since our country is considered one of the most powerful in the world, our decisions affect us and those around the globe, which gives us a great responsibility. Therefore, efficient reading and mathematical skills are a must if we wish to become more productive. Reading opens up a new realm of knowledge to students: history, life lessons, the how-to process, creativity, important facts and much more. Mathematics, on the other hand, teaches children basic scientific principles that can be used to heighten our technology and make medicinal practices more efficient.

If we hope to improve our country we need to take steps leading in that direction. New standards are needed for our school children, and what those standards are should be carefully considered. We do not want the intelligence of our school children to decline.

It is important to note that we do not want these children to suffer from an overwhelming burden of stress resulting from the new challenging education program. We should take this new plan of education very seriously because the outcome of this plan will affect school children, our economy, and eventually, the world.