Obama spends election anniversary talking education

[tonysam]

Source: USA Today

No special ceremony for President Obama on the one-year anniversary of his election -- just a workman-like event on education, on a day trip to Madison, Wis.

Obama is on his way to James C. Wright Middle School to discuss how states can compete for $4.35 billion in grants through what he calls the Race to the Top Fund. Wright Middle is a public charter school that partners with the University of Wisconsin at Madison on a teacher preparation program.

Oval colleague Greg Toppo provides details of the program here.

In unveiling the new grant program back in July, Obama said he was issuing a challenge to educators in every state. "If you set and enforce rigorous and challenging standards and assessments; if you put outstanding teachers at the front of the classroom; if you turn around failing schools, your state can win a Race to the Top grant," he said.

Read more: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/11/obama-spends-election-anniversary-talking-education-1/1

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No comment.

[JDPriestly]

1. Blah, blah, blah.

If you want to change American schools, change American TV and American families.

[tonysam]

3. Plus if you want to change schools, you'd better know what in the heck you are talking about

The problem with public schools isn't with the teachers or even with the students or parents--it's with the people who run the schools. They have absolute power to destroy teachers and are not held accountable at all. School boards don't count; they are usually rubberstamp operations.

Any proposal which doesn't deal with the reality of public schools will fail.

[Greyskye]

2. I watched it.

And I liked what I heard. :thumbsup:

[YvonneCa]

4. I liked the speech, too. I support Obama's goals...

...for our country and agree with his emphasis on education as a way to get there.

I am glad he values our children and is seeking to improve their education and their future. I thought he did a great job of challenging parents to become involved in their children's education and to support teachers' high standards with high standards of their own. His story about his daughter was EXCELLENT.

I do worry that he listens a bit too attentively to NYC's Joel Klein about how to fix public schools. I hope he understands that NYC (and Chicago, for that matter) is not the whole country. And I hope he understands that teachers are a big part of what is RIGHT about our schools...they are NOT what is wrong.

[nyy1998]

5. Mostly agree

A great quote from the West Wing: "Education can be the silver bullet" for most issues. A lot of problems we face in American society is due to poor education.

[Tim01]

6. Is he going to get rid of NCLB? No. Bush 2.0 nt

[Iowa]

7. Yep. Bush 2.0 with a warm-fuzzy demeanor. A speech-giver protecting the status quo.

[MichiganVote]

8. Politicians who talk about a public system of education like its a public housing program

have a very poor sense of what American children's lives are really like these days. This is nothing more than political pablum.