Higher Education on the U.S. Agenda
President Obama encourages high School students to take advantage of Community Colleges
By the EduPlan Team
With the rise in tuition at public and private colleges, it is inevitable for students and their families to wonder which institutions present the right fit, based on their budget and student’s interests.
As reported on The New York Times, President Barack Obama used the State of the Union address to serve as an advocate for high school students and encouraged them to choose a teaching career. “Over the next 10 years,” he said, “with so many baby boomers retiring from our classrooms, we want to prepare 100,000 new teachers in the fields of science and technology and engineering and math.”
According to The New York Times President Obama urges congress “to make permanent” a college tuition tax credit that is currently worth up to $2,500 a year, or $10,000 for four years, per student. He advocates on increasing federal government involvement in college accessibility through economic supports such as bigger Federal Pell grants, and the permanent extension of the American Opportunity tax credit for higher education. He also renewed his call for accountability and merit-based evaluations for teachers.
Obama has reported that America has fallen to ninth in the proportion of young people with a college degree.” The president reiterated his commitment to push the U.S. to lead the world in college graduation rates by 2020, adding, “to compete, higher education must be in reach of every American.”
According to this report, the President also emphasizes on the role of community colleges in revitalizing the American economy. As an example, President Obama highlighted the efforts of member of the community. According to the new York Times, he illustrated his arguments with real-life example, Kathy Proctor, a furniture worker since the age of 18 who reinvented herself in her mid-50s, after a factory layoff, by studying biotechnology at Forsyth Technical Community College in Winston-Salem, N.C.Ms. Proctor, who is a mother of two, had a message for high school students that says: ‘I hope it tells them to never give up.
References:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/it-makes-no-sense-a-dissection.html