It doesn't take a math or science education to figure out that there will be objections to Sen. Max Baucus' proposed educational incentives that include a full college scholarship for high school graduates majoring in math, science, engineering or technology.

There will be those who complain that they don't want their tax money used to help somebody else's children. Others will say it is a good idea, but we can't afford it. And, of course, it wouldn't take all those English and history majors very long to point out the unfairness. Is it their fault that they can only handle so many levels of abstraction before college math pops their mental fuses?

Still, Baucus is onto something important. Educators and business leaders have been warning for years that if the United States is to hold on to its place in the world, it will have to do it with brain power.

Baucus' $25 billion Education Competitiveness Act, which he plans to introduce in the next few months, would pay for science-oriented study at any university, provided the student agrees to work or teach in a related field for at four years after graduating. The measure also would provide 25,000 merit-based scholarships for teaching educators in those fields, boost teachers' pay in rural areas, expand prekindergarten classes and provide education tax credits for the middle class.

The senator's proposal is big and costly, but his goal is nothing less than protecting the future well-being of this country. There are many worse ways we could spend that kind of money than on the brightest of our young people. After World War II, the GI Bill gave America a huge educated class that more than paid for its schooling. Baucus' bill could have a similar impact.