By Matt W.
During a recent phone conversation with my father, he piqued my interest in President Barack Obama’s plans for educational progress by telling me about the president’s “back to school” speech to the young people of the United States. My father explained to me that Obama’s goal was to challenge students to take responsibility for their education.
Following our conversation, I logged on to the internet to find a copy of the president’s prepared remarks. To my surprise, the top Google results headlined with editorial remarks such as “Hello everyone, I’m about to brainwash your children” and “Back to School? Butt out Obama!” Even more surprising were the blog entries from parents who believed that the president was “too controlling” in his remarks, or even “overly patriotic.”
There obviously is no problem with wanting to protect your children from corrupt, evil politicians, but I hardly think that Barack Obama is much of a threat.
If anything, we should stop blaming the president for our problems, and consider taking a look at ourselves. And even if the president is that powerful, a good, hard look at the quality of academic achievement in the United States certainly isn’t too much to ask for.
With 17 of the 50 largest U.S. cities having a high school graduation rate below 50 percent, it’s no wonder the president is challenging students to take responsibility for their education. These findings were made in 2009 by America’s Promise Alliance, an organization headed by the former Secretary of State, Colin Powell. In addition to these low graduation rates, there are about 1.2 million high school dropouts each year.
Obama also faces the challenge of cleaning up the wreckage of the Bush Administration’s No Child Left Behind Act. With educational goals being set on a state level rather than a federal level, it’s impossible to hold the entire country to a uniform standard, and it’s taking a toll on the effectiveness of our country’s schools and students.
