Hands down, the best Obama speech yet. His mastery of high rhetoric and impressive command of history is met with a plain-speaking pragmatism that is just right for the times. His agenda is impressive too. And I can’t wait to hear the foreign policy equivalent of this one.
His thoughts on education:
The third challenge we must address is the urgent need to expand the promise of education in America.In a global economy, where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity. It is a pre-requisite.
Right now, three-quarters of the fastest-growing occupations require more than a high school diploma, and yet just over half of our citizens have that level of education. We have one of the highest high school dropout rates of any industrialized nation, and half of the students who begin college never finish.
This is a prescription for economic decline, because we know the countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow. That is why it will be the goal of this administration to ensure that every child has access to a complete and competitive education, from the day they are born to the day they begin a career. That is a promise we have to make to the children of America.
Already, we’ve made a historic investment in education through the economic recovery plan. We’ve dramatically expanded early childhood education and will continue to improve its quality, because we know that the most formative learning comes in those first years of life.
We’ve made college affordable for nearly 7 million more students, 7 million and we have provided the resources necessary to prevent painful cuts and teacher layoffs that would set back our children’s progress.
But we know that our schools don’t just need more resources; they need more reform. And that is why this budget creates new teachers — new incentives for teacher performance, pathways for advancement, and rewards for success. We’ll invest — we’ll invest in innovative programs that are already helping schools meet high standards and close achievement gaps. And we will expand our commitment to charter schools. It is our responsibility as lawmakers and as educators to make this system work, but it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in it.
So tonight I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be a community college or a four-year school, vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma.
And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself; it’s quitting on your country. And this country needs and values the talents of every American.
Then he connects it with one of my favorites themes of his:
These education policies will open the doors of opportunity for our children, but it is up to us to ensure they walk through them.In the end, there is no program or policy that can substitute for a parent, for a mother or father who will attend those parent-teacher conferences, or help with homework, or turn off the TV, put away the video games, read to their child.
I speak to you not just as a president, but as a father when I say that responsibility for our children’s education must begin at home. That is not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue. That’s an American issue.
Amazing. If only we had such visionaries.
Read the full transcript here.
I hung on his every word during that speech. Unlike any president before him, he really has a grip on what the peoples real needs, to include people taking responsibility for there lives.
A “Speech” it was not. A “Teleprompter Reading” it was. Take away The Anointed One’s Blackberry and his teleprompters and even Chris “Obama Orgasm” Matthews beats him hands down. The Anointed One must have the strongest neck muscles on earth. How he keeps up that dizzying pace as he bobs right to left…left to right…right to left would do justice to a NASCAR Champion. What’s that “syndrome” that typists get? Is there a “Neck Equivalent?”
” These education policies will open the doors of opportunity for our children, but it is up to us to ensure they walk through them.In the end, there is no program or policy that can substitute for a parent, for a mother or father who will attend those parent-teacher conferences, or help with homework, or turn off the TV, put away the video games, read to their child.
I speak to you not just as a president, but as a father when I say that responsibility for our children’s education must begin at home. That is not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue. That’s an American issue.”
You know what? Some teachers smirk when parents help kids with their homework. This also true with a few teachers in Pisay.
Even if he did read the speech with the help of a teleprompter, his delivery was still impeccable. I agree, best Obama speech ever. Even Rush Limbaugh agreed in his CPAC address here: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_030209/content/01125106.guest.html.
Too bad he’s not following through on the promise of getting rid of the pork. He’s signing bills rife with them. I’m with McCain on that issue.