American schools must improve
Julianna Goldman reports for Bloomberg that President Obama is ready to crack down on American schools. I say it’s about time someone did. Who better than our president?
For too long, relaxed school standards, inappropriate tenure for inferior teachers and climbing high-school dropout rates have plagued America. These signs of disaster have damaged our ability to field a workforce that is competitive in the global market. This has become even more of a burden to American than usual, considering the current economic downturn. President Obama aims to change that.
There must be progress
“Economic progress and educational achievement have always gone hand-in-hand in America,” said President Obama. “The future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens.” Along those lines, Obama’s goal is for the U.S. to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.
Falling tax revenues have stung public education growth efforts during this depression. Obama’s economic stimulus package included $81.1 billion for education-related projects. That’s in addition to $46.2 billion for education in 2010 fiscal spending.
“Education… is a prerequisite”
This notion is guiding President Obama’s decisions. Rather than continuing the automatic, broken-down tenure system that rewards inferior teachers who have managed to hang on for years, Obama is pushing for a merit pay system that rewards teachers who are truly good at what they do for students. Those who don’t make the grade will be given a reasonable chance to improve. If they don’t improve within a given period of time, they will be let go.
Not surprisingly, teachers’ unions oppose merit pay. CLICK HERE to continue and see what’s happening to the American dream…
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Discussion of Obama: “Better Education… Better Economy” (Pt.1)