Obama: "Our children and our country can't afford four more years of neglect and indifference."

[bigtree]

September 9, 2008




DAYTON, Ohio -- Stumping in Ohio this morning, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama delivered a major policy address on education.

"The urgency of upgrading public education for the 21st Century has been talked to death in Washington, but not much has gotten done. That failure to act has put our nation in jeopardy. I believe the day of reckoning is here. Our children and our country can't afford four more years of neglect and indifference," said Obama.

"An educated workforce is essential for America to compete and win," he said.

read: http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/Obama-To-outcompete-world-tomorrow-we-must-outeducate/1220972954.html#





“Without a college degree or industry certification, it’s harder and harder to find a job that can help you support your family and keep up with rising costs,” Obama said.

Obama’s education initiative focuses heavily on technology education, and offering more training and mentoring to students interested in science and math. Obama has proposed a $500 million technology education fund which will be part of an overall $1 billion education fund. According to a fact sheet provided by the campaign, Obama plans to pay for these new proposals by cutting government spending and reducing federal earmarks.

Another key element of the new plan is to double the funding for charter schools, a program that Obama will acknowledges has been controversial. The funding for charter schools will be part of an overall Innovative Schools Funds which will increase funding for non profit schools, Montessori schools, and career academies.

“When the story of our time is told, I don’t want it to be said that China seized this moment to reform its education system, but the United States did not. I don’t want it to be said that India led the way on innovation, but the United States did not,” Obama said.

read: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/09/09/politics/fromtheroad/entry4429875.shtml





"I believe in public schools, but also believe in fostering competition among public schools," Mr. Obama told the crowd of about 750 invited guests and students . . .

"Now I know that you’ve had a tough time with for-profit charter schools here in Ohio," he said. "That is why I’ll work with Governor Strickland to hold for-profit charter schools accountable, and I’ll work with all our nation’s governors to hold all our charter schools accountable. Charter schools that are successful will get the support they need to grow, and charters that aren’t will get shut down.’’

"Giving our parents real choices about where to send their kids to school also means showing the same kind of leadership at the national level that I did in Illinois when I passed a law to double the number of charter schools in Chicago,’’ said Mr. Obama.

"And you know we can do all of this for the cost of just a few days in Iraq. We can do it,’’ he said to the strongest crowd reaction of the speech.

read: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080909/NEWS09/809090267





"In the past few weeks, my opponent, John McCain, has taken to talking about the need for change and reform in Washington, where he has been part of the scene for about three decades," Obama continued. "And in those three decades, he has not done one thing to truly improve the quality of public education in our country. Not one real proposal or law or initiative. Nothing.

"Instead, he marched with the ideologues in his party in opposing efforts to hire more teachers, and expand Head Start, and make college more affordable. You don’t reform our schools by opposing efforts to fully fund No Child Left Behind. And you certainly don’t reform our education system by calling to close the Department of Education. That would just make it harder for us to give out financial aid, harder for us to keep track of how our schools are doing, and lead to widening inequality in who gets a college degree," Obama said in his prepared remarks. "After three decades of indifference on education, do you really believe that John McCain is suddenly going to make a difference now?"

"If we’re going to make a real and lasting difference for our future, we have to be willing to move beyond the old arguments of left and right and take meaningful, practical steps to build an education system worthy of our children and our future," Obama said. "We have to."

read: http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/09/obama_touts_sch.html






video: http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/Obama-To-outcompete-world-tomorrow-we-must-outeducate/1220972954.html

Obama’s New Education Ad: http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/09/09/obamas-new-education-ad/


(AP Photos/Chris Carlson -- Skip Peterson
REUTERS/Matt Sullivan)

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. Sounds great! nt

[bigtree]

2. it's not sexy

. . . but, this is really what's at stake if we want the future generations to succeed and prosper.

sounds promising!

[bigtree]

3. .

:kick:

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. K&R. This is what we're talking about and he delivers! nt