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NEW YORK (AP) - James Simons knows a thing or two about the laws of supply and demand. He has been running the successful Renaissance Technologies investment firm for more than 20 years.
And from what he's seen in his own children's schooling and his firm's workforce, Simons says some basic rules of economics need to be applied to U.S. education: Those who are good at math should have an incentive to teach. In 2004, Simons founded Math for America, a program in New York City that gives stipends to people with a math background who are interested in a teaching career. The program became the model behind the national education program proposed in April as part of Congress' America Competes bill.
Simons, one of America's richest hedge fund billionaires, probably would have become a mathematician no matter what — he says as a pre-schooler he contemplated math problems. Still, he stresses the importance of federal education programs. He was the first student to receive a fellowship to study math through the National Defense Education Act, which the government began in 1958 to compete in the Space Race. It successfully boosted the number of U.S. math and science experts.
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