President Obama nuked former President George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” program as a critical failure that lowered educational expectations and performance and graduated children who were still uneducated. Instead, the president touted his “Race to the Top” initiative that promotes the higher standards that will propel American students’ performance back to the top of industrialized nations.
“I do not want to see young people getting a high school diploma who can’t read the diploma,” Obama said to thunderous applause. “I know that some argue that, as we emerge from a recession that my administration should focus solely on economic issues. But education is about economic issues, if not the economic issue of our times.”
He pointed out that education is most certainly an economic issue when the rate of unemployment for those without degrees is twice the rate for those who have higher education under their belts. “It is an economic issue when eight out of 10 new jobs will require additional training or higher education by the end of this decade,” Obama emphasized.
A prolonged and boisterous ovation greeted Obama, who traversed a few blocks from the White House to the Washington Convention Center to deliver his plans for a complete overhaul of America’s educational system, an institution he says has failed.
“We set the stakes, that if you are committed to outstanding teaching, to successful schools, to higher standards, if you are committed to excellence, you will qualify for a grant to help you attain that goal,” he said.
And he added that the most important variable in the equation was the teacher.
“Nothing is more important than a teacher,” he said. “My sister is a teacher. I’m here today because of great teachers. Most are excellent teachers who are passionate about what they do, who dig into their own pockets for basically supplies, and who go beyond the call of duty.”
Among his many educational goals, the president said he wants teachers to:
1. Have higher salaries.
2. Have more support.
3. To be trained as the professionals they are.
4. To have real financial security in order to enter and stay in a fulfilling teaching career.
“I don’t want talented people to say ‘I wanna teach but I cannot afford it,” he said. “I want them to have a fulfilling and supportive workplace environment.” –terry shropshire
