President Obama’s education speech today: Status quo is “morally inexcusable… economically indefensible.”
President Obama said we can longer accept the status quo in education
In a speech today at the National Urban League Centennial Conference, President Obama described education as “the economic issue of our time.”
Here is part of the speech. (Please read the entire speech, if you can):
It’s an economic issue when the unemployment rate for folks who’ve never gone to college is almost double what it is for those who have gone to college. It’s an economic issue when eight in 10 new jobs will require workforce training or a higher education by the end of this decade. It’s an economic issue when countries that out-educate us today are going to out-compete us tomorrow.
Now, for years, we’ve recognized that education is a prerequisite for prosperity. And yet, we’ve tolerated a status quo where America lags behind other nations. Just last week, we learned that in a single generation, America went from number one to 12th in college completion rates for young adults. Used to be number one, now we’re number 12.
At the same time, our 8th graders trail about eight — 10 other nations — 10 other nations in science and math. Meanwhile, when it comes to black students, African American students trail not only almost every other developed nation abroad, but they badly trail their white classmates here at home — an achievement gap that is widening the income gap between black and white, between rich and poor.
We’ve talked about it, we know about it, but we haven’t done enough about it. And this status quo is morally inexcusable, it s economically indefensible, and all of us are going to have to roll up our sleeves to change it.
I also want to directly speak to the issue of teachers. We may have some teachers here in the house. I know Urban League has got some teachers. Nothing is more important than teachers. The whole premise of Race to the Top is that teachers are the si
ngle most important factor in a child’s education from the moment they step into the classroom. And I know firsthand that the vast majority of teachers are working tirelessly, are passionate about their students, are often digging into their own pockets for basic supplies, are going above and beyond the call of duty.
So I want teachers to have higher salaries. I want them to have more support. I want them to be trained like the professionals they are –- with rigorous residencies like the ones that doctors go through. I want to give them a career ladder so they’ve opportunities to advance, and earn real financial security. I don’t want talented young people to say I’d love to teach but I can’t afford it.
I want them to have a fulfilling and supportive workplace environment. I want them to have the resources — from basic supplies to reasonable class sizes — that help them succeed. And instead of a culture where we’re always idolizing sports stars or celebrities, I want us to build a culture where we idolize the people who are shaping our children’s future. I want some teachers on the covers of some of those magazines. Some teachers on MTV, featured.
So I am 110 percent behind our teachers. But all I’m asking in return — as a President, as a parent, and as a citizen — is some measure of accountability. So even as we applaud teachers for their hard work, we’ve got to make sure we’re seeing results in the classroom. If we’re not seeing results in the classroom, then let’s work with teachers to help them become more effective. If that doesn’t work, let’s find the right teacher for that classroom.
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115 comments Add your comment
Accountabilty (it takes a village)
July 30th, 2010
9:22 pm
@ Dr. No, @lee, @ bootney
You all need to seriously seek professional help for your racism. It is a disease that will destroy you.. I wish AJC bring down any blogs that speaks out against racism. You spend more time criticizing President Obama instead of resolving the problems which is include your children too. How would you all resolved this problem of education in this country? Please be reminded that your President Bush started the problem. “No child left behind”
Write your suggestions:
northatlantateacher
July 31st, 2010
7:22 am
@Iggy:
I am a high school teacher in a north metro system. I can guarantee you our primary directive from our administration (other than the obvious of using good teaching practices) is communication with parents. We are to respond to email or phone calls within 24-48 hours.
When I read about experiences parents have in other systems – and they mostly seem to be concentrated in DCSS, Clayton and APS – I am shocked at what I read.
I get very upset when a parent (any parent – not directed at you) makes assumptions that most teachers are lazy, apathetic, whatever – because of negative experiences they’ve had. I know it’s human nature to do so, but I work so very hard and it hurts to know a lot of parents assume otherwise.
My principal fired 10 teachers last year. Not transferred elsewhere, fired period. Gone and out of our system. So it does happen. Bad teachers do get fired.
I know my system is a good one, but it’s also a very wealthy one. To acknowledge a high SES and a good system go hand in hand is certainly not popular, but it is so very true.
This will be my 9th year, and I hope that during my career I see accountability for teachers that is as accurate as possible. I also hope to see a fundamental shift in the way education is percieved by many – that it is the sole responsibility of the school system. It’s the job of ALL of us – parents, teachers, coaches, relatives, bosses, etc. I do not think this will happen any time soon, unfortunately.
Lee
July 31st, 2010
12:35 pm
Newsflash @Accountability, it is not “racism” to discuss the characteristics and attributes of the different races.
My saying that there are inherent differences between the races, including IQ, is no different than my saying the sun rises in the East and sets in the West.
I guess I need professional help for that “disease” as well.
Accountabilty (it takes a village)
July 31st, 2010
2:02 pm
@Lee
It is what it is
Your discussions are degrading and condescending to one particular person of one particular race. Yes you are a racist and you need to seek professional help. Denial is the first indication. You still haven’t answered my question. Back to the issue. What can be done to resolve this problem of education in America? POST Your comment
Teacher
August 1st, 2010
1:04 am
Iggy,
I agree with you about teacher communication. It is very important that any email/phone call from a parent be returned by the end of the day. I also check my email during the evening to make sure I keep the lines of communication open. There really is no excuse for a teacher not to respond to a parent. Even if a teacher doesn’t have an answer right away, they can still contact the parents to let them know they are working on the request.
I disagree with you about the work hours. Yes, we get a lot of breaks. So what? If you want those breaks, become a teacher! You will quickly see that it is a tremendous amount of work. During the year, you are right that we don’t work 8 hours a day. Try 10-12! It’s not a joke! There’s a lot going on behind the scene that you haven’t considered.
Just a thought!
Lee
August 1st, 2010
9:09 am
@Accountability, so, if I state the obvious and say anything that shows blacks in a less favorable light, such as comment on the disproportionate crime rate among blacks, or the high illegitimate birth rate among blacks, I’m a racist.
If I am Bill Cosby and say those things, I’m an Uncle Tom.
Exhibit A as to why the problems within the black community will never go away. To first solve a problem, you must be able to talk about the problem.
ScienceTeacher671
August 1st, 2010
12:10 pm
Considering what seems to get through the filter and what has to be released from the filter, does the filter actually do anything but impede conversation?
Maureen Downey
August 1st, 2010
1:41 pm
ScienceTeacher, It does catch blatant obscenities and lots of ads for “London escorts” and Viagra. But it also catches a lot of legitimate postings. I do have a plan to actually eliminate all filtering for one day and let everything through – a day when I can be on the blog 24/7 to quickly catch and delete the escort ads. That is a suggestion of one of my IT colleagues. He says I should then restore the list of unacceptable terms and see if the filter eases up a bit on the legitimate posts.
I may try it this week. So, be prepared to see – at least until I delete them — a lot of ads that the filter is catching.
Maureen
ScienceTeacher671
August 1st, 2010
6:52 pm
Maureen, that will be an interesting day! (Maybe not in a good way, but interesting…)
I guess that’s sort of like the spam filter on my email. I get annoyed at what gets through, until I check what got caught…
Devil's Advocate
August 1st, 2010
7:40 pm
Lee- Since your postings are regularly controversial, will you go on record stating that you feel that blacks are born equal, on average, to whites, on average? It is just sociological and environmental differences that create statistical gaps? Such a statement would give your opinion far more intellectual heft, especially now that you have aligned yourself with Cosby, whom I’d bet would be happy to make the statements I ask you to.
Lee
August 1st, 2010
10:42 pm
@DA, wow, I really need to get me some of those politically blinders. Makes life a lot easier when you don’t have to face reality, eh?
There are differences between the races. Plain and simple. You think not? Then explain why an anthropologist can look at a skeleton and tell whether it was negroid or caucasion. Explain why different races are more or less succeptible to certain diseases. The list goes on and on.
Dr NO
August 2nd, 2010
7:31 am
Why is ODumber coming to Atlanta today. We dont need him here and personally Dr NO has zero interest in anything he says other than for its obvious comedic value.
ODumber is a joke, a jester, a walking talking rectum.
Devil's Advocate
August 2nd, 2010
7:36 am
And there are differences between people born in the North and in the South…so how should that affect policy?
At least have the courage to admit your convictions. No one is falling for the code of “differences”.
Andrea
September 14th, 2010
9:18 am
It’s an economic issue because there is not enough funding and kids are just numbers taught only to pass the tests and then not taught beyond that. It is an economic issue because schooling, even “free public school”, is expensive. I just don’t understand why it has to be a competition between other countries or why we blame the teachers——it is hard to teach 36 kids in one class because there is not enough money and teachers have to be laid off……. Ugh, it is so frustrating. They are children, not numbers and education should focus on the whole child, including extra curricular activities–because studies prove that a well rounded child learns better, enjoys school more, and gets better grades.
teacher&mom
September 14th, 2010
4:49 pm
WOW!! I have many comments, so just hang in there! I have read every comment on this from beginning to end, and many of the problems in our country today are apparent in them. First of all, why don’t you people GROW UP!!! The person who keeps putting degrading names after “O” for Obama is just as much a waste of life as anyone he is commenting on. The trick is NOT in taking a side. Everyone has a different opinion/ viewpoint and that is fine. The real trick is to express your points in a MATURE way. I too did not vote for Obama, and will not vote for him again. But I can express my views without acting like a child- if you would try the same, people might listen rather than shutting your comments off. Comments like yours belong with 12 year olds on the playground.
To the person being attacked for saying that there are differences between races, Lee I think, everyone needs to admit that he is right. There are many differences. Some negative, some positive for each race. If you measure IQ’s, AS A WHOLE, whites have higher IQ’s—that’s the AVERAGE white IQ is higher than the AVERAGE black IQ. However, I am white and am perfectly comfortable admitting that as a whole asians have higher IQ’s than whites. Why should I argue- its totally true- ON AVERAGE!!!!!!!!! There are MANY blacks that I know are smarter than I am, and many asians who are dumber. It isn’t saying that all whites are smart and all blacks are stupid- I’ve known some pretty idiotic whites!!! I can also say that ON A WHOLE, blacks are more athletic. I bet most blacks wouldn’t argue with that! That doesn’t mean that there aren’t some great white athletes, or that every black is. I am not saying anything out of racism…I grew up in a very high percenage black community and have never been racist. I am stating fact, and those who cannot accept fact are lying to themselves. Instead of admitting that this is just how it is and figuring out a way to overcome it and work around it, they call those who state it racists. Again, you can’t take offense. I am certainly not saying that every black is dumb, or is dumber than whites—-everyone recognizes that if you look at the highest IQ’s in the world many of them would be black. My goodness, if y’all would grow up you could see the arguments for what they truly are.
As to the parent/ teacher argument going on, you should both be ashamed of yourselves, and you should both back down and realize that you each have valid points, and that neither of you has all the pieces to the story. I am a teacher, and every teacher that I know admits that there are bad teachers in the profession, like that parent says we don’t. And we do want accountability. But what people outside the teaching profession don’t realize is that the accountability that we should have should be on OUR PERFORMANCE!!!!! Everyone wants to make us accountable for the kids’ performance and that isn’t fair at all. I hear people from other professions talk all the time about how they are held accountable and given evaluations for THEIR WORK…so are teachers! Evaluate me on MY performance. But, if you’ve never taught, let me clear some things up. I can teach- I am good at it, and I work hard at it, but I CANNOT motivate the unmotivated. I have had students who will write their names on their tests and hand them straight back to me. They won’t even answer multiple choice questions. How can I then be held accountable for them failing the test??? I’ve had students who just won’t try. I hold them after class, or offer extra tutoring sessions and they say they just don’t care. I try to get facts about jobs and money for their futures, thinking I can motivate them that way, but they still say they don’t care. How do I “teach” that child? Teachers are no longer allowed to require anything out of students, and we are not allowed to kick them out of class for misbehaving. If they choose to sleep, we can’t do anything about it. I teach so hard on many days that I absolutely exhaust myself. I give my students everything they need to succeed in my class. It is THE CHILD’S choice and responsibilty what they do with the information that I give them. It is also the job of the parent to motivate their children to care and to study. I am committed to holding up MY END of the bargain, but in my opinion, teachers are the LEAST responsible. I have had classes of unmotivated kids, and it wouldn’t matter what teacher they had, they just wouldn’t succeed because THEY DON’T WANT TO. On the other hand, I have had honors classes with kids who, if they had a horrible teacher who never spoke a word, they would take it upon themselves to get the books and learn on their own. Many people blame teachers, and many blame parents, but very few talk about the most important aspect in education, the students. Again, until we face the problems, we cannot solve them. STUDENTS should be held accountable again. I think that if you aren’t doing well, you should go into another track- vocational. Teach them a trade!!! If someone wants to be a mechanic, they DO NOT need to take chemistry. Send them to a vocational school so they can learn what THEY need! Also, to reiterate somone else’s point, the countries we are being compared to have that system. We are only compared to the upper performers in those countries because they have already gotten rid of the low performers. This is a totally unfair comparison.
Also, I, and every other teacher, get SO SICK of people talking about us not working many hours, or having “3 months” off for the summer. Well, first of all, look at your calendar, we don’t even get a full 2 months off. Is it AWESOME to get even the 8 weeks we get- absolutely. But contrary to popular belief, we DO NOT GET PAID FOR THE SUMMER!!! We get checks, but only because our school districts basically steal part of our earnings through the school year so that they can earn interest off of it instead of us. We work SO MANY hours that people don’t realize, and many of us DO spend much of our summers at school working—not getting paid—but working. I get to work at least an hour early every day, and am here long after school is out. When I leave, I leave with armfulls of papers to grade, or I go home and get on the computer to search new ways to teach a topic, or to prepare lessons. Or I’m off to Walmart to buy things (with my own money, of course) that I need to provide your precious children with the “education they deserve” only to then have to come early or stay late to sit in a conference with a parent telling me that I am a horrible teacher and should be fired because Johnny (who remember wouldn’t take his test) is failing.
Now, for the person who spoke of “primadonna” teachers who supposedly have the easy job of teaching the “higher kids”—get your facts straight. I have taught EVERY level of kids over my years of teaching. I have taught low low low level classes, I have taught AP classes. Neither should be paid more. Teachers find their niches. Just like some doctors love being pediatricians while others love being podiatrists. Some teachers find that they are better teachers of low level kids, and others find that they are better at teaching high level kids—AND THAT’S OKAY!!! That’s good, in fact. I do not deal well with discipline problems. I am too nice and HATE to have to constantly get on to kids or tell them to wake up. One of my best friends, across the hall, hates teaching upper level and loves teaching the low levels. We both work equally as hard. AP classes are HARD WORK. You will teach your rear end off every day, there is much more grading, and you have to teach on a much deeper level. Ideas like this, although I certainly understand why people who have never taught would come up with this idea, are VERY counter productive. There is a trend in education because of “No child left behind”- which is also a crock, to put the majority of our efforts onto the lower level kids, leaving our upper level neglected. Perhaps this is why we have dropped in our performance. These upper kids are the ones who usually pull our scores up and now we are leaving them out in education. This is the real failure. We are failing our upper students who WANT to learn because we are beating our heads against a brick wall trying to FORCE the lower ones to care. Why can’t people be honest? This IS a free country, full of opportunites. BUT, those opportunities include the bad. So, if you choose to do your work, work hard, and try, your opportunities are many. If, however, you choose to sleep during class, turn in tests incomplete, not try, not care—you fail. When you get out of school, if you choose to work, you will be paid, therfor you will be able to buy things you want/ need. If, however, you choose to sit at home on your rear end, you choose to get no money and starve to death!!! No food stamps or welfare which is just crap. All of those things have done nothing but make people lazy. Don’t get me wrong- I have NO PROBLEM helping people who CAN’T help themselves. But, I get tired of seeing people in front of me in the grocery line buying the same food I am paying for with my low teacher pay, but they get it for free because THEY CHOOSE NOT TO WORK, or because they chose not to do well in school and now can’t get a job. Also, to top it off, they pull cash out of their pocket to pay for the cigarrettes and beer! If they would use that money to buy their food they might not have to get food stamps—OHHHH SO IRRITATING!
Anyway- very long response, but grow up people. The answer to our education problems are to be mature, admit the real situation, and hold the students accountable for their performance, hold the teachers responsible for their own performance, and stop giving kids excuses for failing. i.e. you failed BECAUSE your teacher was bad—what a crock. There may be some bad teachers, but for the most part we are doing the best we can with what we have for way less money than we deserve.