Obama On Education At UT Austin
Tags: Austin, Barack Obama, Education, Education reform, Race to the Top, United States, University of Texas
President Obama continued his push for education reform calling for the United States to retake the lead in university and college graduates among developed nations.
If you hadn't noticed before, the President is extremely supportive of greater education for all Americans. His administration has aggressively focused on education, developing the Race to the Top program which rewards states with additional funding for education when they reach certain goals, a far cry from the Bush administration's failed policy called No child Left Behind which succeeded only in getting states to lower standards in order to continue to receive funding. The new program has been described as a reform contest for the states and 27 of them have now adopted common standards to improve their chances to access the Race to the Top funding as well as improve education across the country.
The President has been criticized for focusing too much on issues unrelated to jobs or the economy, but as he has said before, education is THE economic issue for the future of the country. To be able to compete in the new world economy, President Obama said, Americans simply needed more graduates. Similar criticisms have been hurled at the President for Health-care reform, but since growing health related costs were the biggest threat to fiscal solvency in the United States it's understandable that the administration decided to tackle that particular knot early on.
As for education, the United states has fallen to 12th in university and college graduates among 36 developed nations, only graduating 40% of its people, with Canada leading the way with 56%. It's that gap that the President wants to close by 2020, reaching for a 60% graduation rate.
In any event, watch the President's remark below:
If you hadn't noticed before, the President is extremely supportive of greater education for all Americans. His administration has aggressively focused on education, developing the Race to the Top program which rewards states with additional funding for education when they reach certain goals, a far cry from the Bush administration's failed policy called No child Left Behind which succeeded only in getting states to lower standards in order to continue to receive funding. The new program has been described as a reform contest for the states and 27 of them have now adopted common standards to improve their chances to access the Race to the Top funding as well as improve education across the country.
The President has been criticized for focusing too much on issues unrelated to jobs or the economy, but as he has said before, education is THE economic issue for the future of the country. To be able to compete in the new world economy, President Obama said, Americans simply needed more graduates. Similar criticisms have been hurled at the President for Health-care reform, but since growing health related costs were the biggest threat to fiscal solvency in the United States it's understandable that the administration decided to tackle that particular knot early on.
As for education, the United states has fallen to 12th in university and college graduates among 36 developed nations, only graduating 40% of its people, with Canada leading the way with 56%. It's that gap that the President wants to close by 2020, reaching for a 60% graduation rate.
In any event, watch the President's remark below:
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