President Obama spotlights education in State of the Union address
The issue of education had a starring role in President Barack Obama’s 2012 State of the Union (SOTU) address, even garnering the most tweets of all the issues discussed in the speech. The president stressed that improving the nation’s education system is integral to the nation’s economic future. Because of this, the president declared that students should not be able to drop out of high school until the age of 18, even going so far as to challenge states to make his declaration law.
“We also know that when students don’t walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma,” President Obama said in his SOTU address. “When students are not allowed to drop out, they do better. So tonight, I am proposing that every state — every state — requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.”
Education experts agree that something needs to be done about the approximate 1 million students dropping out of high school each year, but they are unsure as to how preventative programs and efforts would be funded.
“The inattention to dropouts in a lot of states is shocking,” Andy Rotherham, an education consultant and former Clinton education advisor, told the Huffington Post. “I’m sure states want to know who will pay for this.”
President Obama also stressed the importance of accessibility to college during his speech to the nation. In addition to challenging states, the president also challenged colleges and universities to work toward making postsecondary education more affordable and accessible to all Americans.
“So let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down,” said Obama. “Higher education can’t be a luxury -– it is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.”
President Obama’s SOTU address also called for more flexibility in school lesson plans and more support for teachers. The administration also passed out a document to accompany the speech that called for new state and district competitive programs that would “reshape tenure,” according to the HuffPost, and change the way teachers are prepared for their jobs.
