The Bush administration proves its short-sightedness once again. Its attempt to expand No Child Left Behind to the high school level is threatening the continuation of two federal programs that have existed for more than 40 years.

Upward Bound programs and Talent Search are part of the TRIO Programs that came to existence as a result of President Lyndon Johnson’s fight against poverty in 1964 and were authorized under the Higher Education Act of 1965. These are college-access programs for students who are from low-income families or are potential first-generation college students.

The Upward Bound programs target high school students who will receive extra coursework on Saturdays and during the summer. Upward Bound Math/Science coursework focuses on the math and science subjects, and Veterans Upward Bound provides veterans short-term courses to help them in a successful transition to college and learn how to secure support from their available resources as veterans.

Talent Search is another TRIO program; it prepares students in grades six through 12 for the college experience through counseling and information about admission requirements and scholarships.

The Bush administration’s 2006 budget proposes to completely cut the $457.6 million allocated last year for the Upward Bound, Veterans Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math/Science and Talent Search Programs across the nation, thus eliminating their existence.

The Department of Education Web site says, “The reduced request for 2006 reflects the decision to shift high-school-related TRIO resources to the proposed High School Intervention initiative, which would provide a more flexible, comprehensive and accountable approach to addressing the college preparation needs of high school students.”

The Bush administration has called these programs “ineffective” although there is a lack of information on what ineffective means to the administration.

Lisa Underhill, a program adviser for Talent Search at Iowa State, said, “it is dangerous to eliminate a program which has proven to work since 1965 for an untested experiment.” Underhill said that of the 198 Talent Search students at Iowa State, 85 percent enrolled in postsecondary education. She said of the 15 percent who did not enroll in college, some enlisted in the armed forces. In Iowa, there are about 10,000 students in these TRIO programs.

Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands also have TRIO programs. I attended a public high school in Puerto Rico, and on Saturdays I would take extra math and science classes.

During the summer I would spend six weeks immersed in the coursework and would travel with 50 other students learning about the history and geography of the island. We were part of Upward Bound Math/Science. All the students who graduated in 2001 who were part of that program at the Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico in San Germ n were enrolled in college.

The elimination of these programs is devastating for the 20,000 high school students who are TRIO participants in Puerto Rico, said Sylvette Almod¢var-Lugo, assistant director of Upward Bound Math/Science in San Germ n.

The reallocation of funds through the High School Intervention initiative of Bush’s No Child Left Behind will not benefit high school students in the United States-owned territories.

If these TRIO programs are ineffective for the disadvantaged, it should mean most students did not attend college or did not make the grades to be accepted to a university. But, as program participants, my peers and I obtained better grades and were able to attend college.

The High School Intervention might work in the future. But is it truly necessary to cut TRIO programs to fund it? Wouldn’t it be easier to cut the nuclear warhead arsenal and provide a safer education for the country’s future leaders?