Thursday, January 28, 2010

The Prez on Ed

This from the President's State of the Union aaddress in the Boston Globe:

...Fourth, we need to invest in the skills and education of our people.

Now, this year, we've broken through the stalemate between left and right by launching a national competition to improve our schools. And the idea here is simple: instead of rewarding failure, we only reward success. Instead of funding the status quo, we only invest in reform -- reform that raises student achievement, inspires students to excel in math and science, and turns around failing schools that steal the future of too many young Americans, from rural communities to the inner city.

In the 21st century, the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education. And in this country, the success of our children cannot depend more on where they live than on their potential.

When we renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we will work with Congress to expand these reforms to all 50 states. Still, in this economy, a high school diploma no longer guarantees a good job. That's why I urge the Senate to follow the House and pass a bill that will revitalize our community colleges, which are a career pathway to the children of so many working families.

To make college more affordable, this bill will finally end the unwarranted taxpayer subsidies that go to banks for student loans. Instead, let's take that money and give families a $10,000 tax credit for four years of college and increase Pell Grants. And let's tell another 1 million students that when they graduate, they will be required to pay only 10 percent of their income on student loans, and all of their debt will be forgiven after 20 years -- and forgiven after 10 years if they choose a career in public service, because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they chose to go to college.

And by the way, it's time for colleges and universities to get serious about cutting their own costs -- because they, too, have a responsibility to help solve this problem...

5 comments:

Eric Schansberg said...

Invest implies that more money is a solution. How much more does he want to spend on elementary and secondary education?

Anonymous said...

I think I speak for most Kentucky educators when I say how proud I am of the presidency of Barack Obama!

Richard Day said...

Eric: Sure. Money has long proven to be a solution at Harvard, why not in Virgie?

The original concept of common schooling was that they would be funded on par with private institutions. There, the rich and poor would come together and the only superiority would be the superiority of the mind.

Of course, it didn't work out that way; partly because society did not need many highly educated persons in that preindustrial agrarian economy. There were other reasons too. Mainly, it was believed that certain citizens weren't worth the money it cost to educate them.

But we don't educate for today. We educate for tomorrow. That society will be very different. If we fail to invest in high quality education for a greater percentage of Americans, we can be assured that our standing among the nations of the world will continue to slip, and with it, our economy.

The 2000 census estimated that By 2025, 38% of the US workforce would be people of color - those least educated historically.

So we invest in our children's future. Somebody's got to pay back all the debt this country has created over the past 8 years.

Anonymous said...

"Somebody's got to pay back all the debt this country has created over the past 8 years."

I assume by this comment you are referring to the last 7 years of Bush and the first year of Obama? I certainly hope that is the case, since Obama has spent more in his first year of office than all past American Presidents (including GWB!) combined.

Richard Day said...

Yes...the last eight.

The revenue picture might have looked different but Obama continued some Bush administration policies: two wars, bailouts, the Bush tax cuts...you know the list.

Add Race to the Top to that..and maybe healthcare; or maybe not.

That much spending occurred during Obama's watch is true enough. But I suspect most non-partisan observers appreciate that the economy was not allowed to collapse, despite copious amounts of selfishness and greed in the private sector.