President Obama: Require teens stay in school until they are 18
President Obama talked a lot about education Tuesday night. (AJC)
President Obama devoted a sizable slice of his State of the Union speech tonight to schools and education.
Here are the relevant passages:
At a time when other countries are doubling down on education, tight budgets have forced states to lay off thousands of teachers. We know a good teacher can increase the lifetime income of a classroom by over $250,000. A great teacher can offer an escape from poverty to the child who dreams beyond his circumstance. Every person in this chamber can point to a teacher who changed the trajectory of their lives. Most teachers work tirelessly, with modest pay, sometimes digging into their own pocket for school supplies— just to make a difference.
Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let’s offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn.
We also know that when students aren’t allowed to walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma. So tonight, I call on every state to require that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.
When kids do graduate, the most daunting challenge can be the cost of college. At a time when Americans owe more in tuition debt than credit card debt, this Congress needs to stop the interest rates on student loans from doubling in July. Extend the tuition tax credit we started that saves middle-class families thousands of dollars. And give more young people the chance to earn their way through college by doubling the number of work-study jobs in the next five years.
Of course, it’s not enough for us to increase student aid. We can’t just keep subsidizing skyrocketing tuition; we’ll run out of money. States also need to do their part, by making higher education a higher priority in their budgets. And colleges and universities have to do their part by working to keep costs down. Recently, I spoke with a group of college presidents who’ve done just that. Some schools re-design courses to help students finish more quickly. Some use better technology. The point is, it’s possible. So let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down. Higher education can’t be a luxury — it’s an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.
Let’s also remember that hundreds of thousands of talented, hardworking students in this country face another challenge: The fact that they aren’t yet American citizens. Many were brought here as small children, are American through and through, yet they live every day with the threat of deportation. Others came more recently, to study business and science and engineering, but as soon as they get their degree, we send them home to invent new products and create new jobs somewhere else.
That doesn’t make sense.
I believe as strongly as ever that we should take on illegal immigration. That’s why my Administration has put more boots on the border than ever before. That’s why there are fewer illegal crossings than when I took office.
The opponents of action are out of excuses. We should be working on comprehensive immigration reform right now. But if election-year politics keeps Congress from acting on a comprehensive plan, let’s at least agree to stop expelling responsible young people who want to staff our labs, start new businesses, and defend this country. Send me a law that gives them the chance to earn their citizenship. I will sign it right away.
You see, an economy built to last is one where we encourage the talent and ingenuity of every person in this country. That means women should earn equal pay for equal work. It means we should support everyone who’s willing to work; and every risk-taker and entrepreneur who aspires to become the next Steve Jobs.
–from Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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87 comments Add your comment
oneofeach4me
January 25th, 2012
10:30 am
All I know is that I hope my children have more teachers like Dr. Henson. At least I will know that someone cares for them even on their worst days. At least I will know that someone realizes that not all children learn the same way and that you don’t teach to just the “well fed, well dressed, and well behaved” children, you teach to all the children in your class.
And this comes from a mother whose daughter is on honor roll and whose son is struggling in Kindergarten.
Ron F.
January 25th, 2012
10:32 am
“Parents complained about the ‘lack of lessons’ (themes”
One of the reasons we have the increased “rigor” of the current curricula and the new standards. Nothing like throwing more oatmeal at the wall if the bowl you’re throwing now isn’t sticking, right? The trick is to balance parents’ demands for more skills with kids’ need for interesting lessons. That can be a tough balance, especially if you’re on the underperforming schools list!
cris
January 25th, 2012
10:34 am
I like:
Teacher Reader
January 25th, 2012
10:34 am
Thank you Mr. Obama for increasing the number of useful idiots, as requiring kids to stay in school brings down the education levels for everyone. To educate does not mean that one does well on a test. Take the high stakes testing out of our schools and replace it with actual learning. Hands-on, project driven, learning, where students have to actually show what they have learned, write about what they have learned, researched what they have learned, thought about what they have learned, discuss and articulate what they have learned, and then more kids will stay in school and become better students.
As a teacher, I found teaching to the test boring. Really, I didn’t need to go to college or even need to think to go over the test questions in the practice test books or to use the computer programs with the test questions. There was no teaching in that and very little actual teaching is able to be done because of the high stakes tests and having to teach everything in the first half of the year. If the government really cares about the kids, they would require them to think more, engage in real learning, and problem solving, but alas that does not make for a useful idiot which is really what the government wants our public schools to create.
oneofeach4me
January 25th, 2012
10:35 am
@Roberta and Ron F ~ The parents may have been complaining because they know that when their child gets to Kindergarten, and their child does not meet the rigorous demands that are placed on these 5 year olds, as far as what they should already know, everyone is going to blame the parent. See how that works?
Teacher Reader
January 25th, 2012
10:37 am
@ guest, The key is learning a skill/trade that is really needed. Just like not all college majors are created equal. You can’t major in poetry and expect to earn $100,000 a year coming out of college. It doesn’t work that way.
cris
January 25th, 2012
10:39 am
(whoops)
I like:
-the idea of students who cannot or choose not to be successful academically to be switched to a vo-tech program….as early as middle grades.
-the idea of students who cannot or choose not to be successful in a vo-tech program to be switched to a ROTC type program…as early as middle grades (although establishing ROTC programs is VERY expensive)
-the idea of students who cannot or choose not to be successful in an ROTC-type program be switched to a low-level community service-type job making a minimum wage so that they can at least contribute to society
-the idea that at any point a student may work their way back up the “scale” as they wish by putting in the time and effort required
guest
January 25th, 2012
10:47 am
@Teacher,
That’s what I meant. Majoring in underwater basketweaving isn’t going to amount to much. Kids need to major in something that has a future. And I agree with you that teaching to a test is stupid. The only kids learn is how to memorize. They need to learn how to think outside the box.
Dr. Monica Henson
January 25th, 2012
10:48 am
@V: “The educational leadership in many districts WANTS us to be little robots regurgitating some preapproved, politically correct, test-centric script that will ensure maximum success with minimum controversy. It’s because they don’t get it; they don’t understand.”
I am in complete agreement. This is the root cause of the tragedies of public education in the age of accountability and standards–that there are so many administrators who are not leading from a strong foundation of instructional excellence that they attained themselves in the classroom before they reached a leadership role. I have no idea how a wide-reaching remedy can be reached.
KIM
January 25th, 2012
10:49 am
Age does not equal commitment to education. Having an older child does not mean the parents will become better role models or value education more.
V for Vendetta
January 25th, 2012
10:51 am
oneofeach4me,
And what are these hard standards of which you speak? One of my children is currently in kindergarten, in one of the best elementary schools in the state, and the requirements seem very reasonable. What is so unreasonable about them? Any child coming into kindergarten with a solid understanding of the alphabet and numbers would have a fair chance to do well if not excel. I don’t know about you, but I think it is the parents responsibility to instill these academic basics in their children–NOT the school system.
William Casey
January 25th, 2012
10:52 am
@WHAT are you…: Pray tell, what job do you hold? I want to avoid incompetence. Maureen was simply pointing out the President’s comments on education and providing a forum for us to discuss! That’s worthwhile IMHO.
Beverly Fraud
January 25th, 2012
10:54 am
“This attitude that there is something wrong with SOME of the kids, rather than with classrooms that don’t inspire and motivate ALL kids, is a prime reason why so many kids become disengaged.”
Dr. Henson, to paraphrase Alfred in The Dark Knight:
Some people just want to watch the world burn…
It doesn’t mean you don’t try…within REASON, but it also means that you don’t PRETEND that you don’t reach a point of diminishing returns for the students who DO want to learn.
Dr. Monica Henson
January 25th, 2012
10:56 am
I also agree with the many posters who reference vocational (CTAE) education. It is not a “lesser” choice, and many students with vocational training go on to be very successful in their careers and earn far more money over the course of their lifetimes than classmates who attain academic degrees at universities. Compare the earning power of a computer repair specialist or gaming developer to a beginning public school teacher.
One thing that needs to change drastically is the perpetuation of the stereotype that college is the “best” choice for all students. I felt this way as a beginning teacher because I was ignorant and didn’t know any better. The rural school in western NC where I graduated treated those of us in the college-bound track (back in the 1970s, when tracking was official policy) as more intelligent than the kids placed in the vocational track. It was only when I went to Massachusetts and eventually became an English department chair of a comprehensive high school that I was exposed to CTAE education, and it made a true believer of me.
This attitude is still prevalent in public education, that pure academics is somehow superior to vocational education. CTAE provides an excellent foundation for students to go on to technical colleges, four-year colleges or universities if they so choose, and the career marketplace.
The purpose of a high school education ought not to be to send all students to earn a university degree–it should be to create CHOICES for all students upon graduation, so that if they choose to go to a university, college, tech school, trade school, the military, or the entry-level workplace, they’ll be prepared to be successful.
William Casey
January 25th, 2012
11:00 am
V FOR VENDETTA is absolutely correct in his/her 9:27 post about “education leadership.” It’s EASY to get into and move up IF “being in charge” is your only concern.
Like I said before...
January 25th, 2012
11:01 am
me and the POTUS butt heads from time to time and this is one of those times. this will make a couple of things happen. you will one, keep kids in school where they don’t want to belong and two, create a difficult environment for those that want to be there and learn. this to me is a signal to get our kids into a private school setting.
oneofeach4me
January 25th, 2012
11:06 am
@V ~ He knows his letters, and his numbers, colors, and how to write his name. He knew his basic numbers. And as a working parent, I taught my son as much as I could when we came home even after he had been in Pre-K then after school all day. It is both a responsibility of the parent and of the teacher to TEACH the children. When I mentioned standards in my previous post, I was speaking more of an attention standard.
What I meant by “rigorous” is that he went from taking a one hour nap, to none. He went from getting an hour of outside time to expel physical energy to a total of 15 minutes. They are teaching him basic Algebra and some of the worksheets instructions are confusing and even I have to read them a few times to “get” what it is they want you to do. I can only imagine what the teacher must have to go through in trying to make sure all the kids in her class understand the instructions given. The kids, 5 years old, are expected to sit in a chair for 6 hours a day, pay attention, and have no mishaps. I think this is a lot to ask of a kindergartner, but it’s acceptable for say a second grader.
Beverly Fraud
January 25th, 2012
11:17 am
Now Maureen, pretend “What are you talking about” was a parent and you were the teacher. Then pretend What took that complaint to your administrator, who said “Well OF COURSE Maureen cut and paste…it’s DEPLORABLE”
Many THEN you can feel what is like for WAY too many public school teachers in Georgia
Maureen Downey
January 25th, 2012
11:22 am
@Beverly, I don’t have to pretend to be a teacher to understand unsubstantiated and baseless complaints — Along with reporting and editing, I have worked as a waitress, a shoe salesperson, a dorm adviser, a department store clerk, a college admissions office clerk and a community college instructor. Each of those jobs meant dealing with people, and that means crazy stuff.
Maureen
(I forgot summer day camp counselor. Each session, there was always one parent — but just one — who took the 6 p.m. closing time as a suggestion rather than a rule and would show up at 6:20. If you pointed out the repeated late arrivals, you would be summoned to the camp director’s office in the morning about your “rudeness.”)
Tiago do Brasil
January 25th, 2012
11:26 am
Monica, you don’t have a clue. You are part of the problem. Off the to the beach.
V for Vendetta
January 25th, 2012
11:32 am
oneofeach4me,
Unfortunately, your attitude is becoming the dominant one in America right now. News flash: children will rise to your expectations if they are consistent and enforced. When I volunteered in my child’s classroom last semester, I found a class of well behaved children sitting quietly and listening to a story. Then they worked on some Math worksheets. The noise in the room never rose above a quiet hum. They get no nap. They are quiet and still for hours a day. This classroom environment is not unusual when the teacher maintains high expectations. When I attended a grade-level event on Thanksgiving, the noise in the cafeteria was quiet, and the children remained in their seats despite the presence of many parents and relatives. These are all five and six year olds.
Beverly Fraud
January 25th, 2012
11:46 am
@Beverly, I don’t have to pretend to be a teacher to understand unsubstantiated and baseless complaints
Well Maureen, if you DO understand, I’d like you to “revisit” that thought when it comes to the idea of empowering teachers by protecting them from administrative RETALIATION.
How much sooner, how much damage may have been AVOIDED if teachers in APS and Dougherty could have known there was policy with REAL TEETH in it to protect them from retaliation?
How much more trust would teachers have as far as getting rid of the DEADWEIGHT in their ranks if they knew the policies in place to do that weren’t going to be used in an arbitrary and capricious manner?
You think teachers ENJOY working amongst the incompetents? You don’t think that they have enough of THAT from the administrative ranks?
Shar
January 25th, 2012
12:10 pm
I am in agreement with the majority of posters this morning. Forcing students to stay in their district high school until 18 is a very bad idea, for all of the reasons that others have given and because it will only further alienate them. However, my observation of the kids at Grady who dropped out as soon as they reached 16 showed an interesting trend: They found out they had nothing ‘outside’ and would congregate at the school entrances until chased off by the assistant principal. In my son’s class, there was little tension between the magnet students and those in the traditional track until college acceptances came out. At that point, the college-bound kids were excited about what was coming next and the non-college kids realized they had nothing at all, and a huge chasm of resentment and anger and fear suddenly opened, with sad and violent results.
It seems that the reality of no options does not sink in with many disaffected students until they experience it. I think that catlady’s suggestion of a mandatory boot camp at 16 is a good one, as it would provide an undesirable consequence for the lazy (rather than an open-ended idea of ‘more time to hang out’) and focus on life and vocational skills that must be inculcated for success to be possible. I also like the idea of failing students being able to work their way back to taxpayer-funded educational eligibility at a later time, when they actually want to learn.
The most selective college in this country is Deep Springs, a tiny, all-male place on the high desert of Nevada where students have to be invited and they spend half the day in class and half working the ranch that comprises the school. They can also only stay for 2 years, they vote on what they’ll study and they choose which professors to invite to teach them. The theory is that digging fenceposts is as important as studying Aristotle, and that those with brilliant minds are far too likely to forget the importance of physical labor.
Something of this sort might work for catlady’s bootcamps – it certainly works spectacularly at Deep Springs. A ten-year study of the effectiveness of correctional bootcamps released in 2003 found that bootcamps did succeed in changing the attitudes and habits of first-time offenders but that the effects were diminished if there was no followup or if camp-to-work programs were not available. It would certainly be easier to get jobs for these kids if employers knew they had received training and if they had not yet saddled themselves with police records.
I believe that life skill classes should begin in middle school and become more specific and rigorous through high school, perhaps morphing into vocational training for all students. I think that parents of students who drain the resources of the classroom and impede the learning of others should be held accountable for their children’s behavior. As far as teacher evaluations are concerned, complaining about test scores as the only measure is valid but some other quantitative source should augment or replace them. Would it be catastrophic to require that teachers (who must cope with the performance of the teacher who came before them) peer review their cohort? Teacher ratings on a sliding scale could be tallied at the district level and be incorporated into evaluations.
oneofeach4me
January 25th, 2012
12:13 pm
@V ~ my attitude? What? That not all children are the same, learn the same, nor have the same personalities or learning style? Why is this a bad thing again?
I volunteer in my kids’ classes ALL the time. My daughter’s earlier classes were all the same way and the classrooms didn’t become “quiet and still” until the second grade. She is now, and has been on honor roll since the 3rd grade. I attest part of this to the fact that she had great, wonderful, caring, creative teachers along the way (and of course my involvement as her parent). My son’s kindergarten classroom has all boys in it and is rowdy most of the day. His teacher is doing the best she can, but most of the students in her class need a lot of physical activity and require a different type of teaching style but she is bound by these “standards” of what she has to teach. I think that is a huge problem.
Oh, and really, I don’t need a news flash; and am FULLY aware of discipline tactics and know first hand that reinforcement is just about the ONLY way to put a child on the right track. I didn’t say his class was BAD or didn’t want to be there.
Ron F.
January 25th, 2012
12:18 pm
Oneofeach: @your 11:06- That’s what happened when we moved to more rigorous coursework as demanded by politicians, parents, etc. I bet most Kindergarten teachers would tell you they don’t agree with it, but we can’t seem to find a balance as a society. My youngest had that type of kindergarten, and he struggles more with frustration in school that does his older brother who had a more traditional kindergarten, no pre-K, and isn’t one bit more intelligent.
oneofeach4me
January 25th, 2012
12:27 pm
@Ron ~ that was my point. My daughter is in the 5th grade and had a “normal” kindergarten and is just fine now. My son, as a kindergartner, is already frustrated with school and I am trying to figure out what to do to keep him interested. The thing is though, I am not in the classroom with him all the time, I am not his teacher or his principal, so how am I suppose to be the one to do that?
Teacher Reader
January 25th, 2012
1:31 pm
@ Oneofeach4me: Homeschool. Once your child is really turned off, it will be difficult to turn him back on, and it won’t get any better as he gets older.
Roberta
January 25th, 2012
2:42 pm
Oneofeach4me: Reggio CAN intertwine the standards. The difficulty of this method, or even Waldorf or Montessori, is that the teacher must be creative and think ‘out of the box’. Reggio is from Italy. Reggio embraces respect of the child, and the child’s life also involves the community (not just parent/teacher/school). I taught Head Start 3-5’s AM, and preK/K intervention PM. (yep, 3 1/2 hour class day, not some GA preK 6 hour ‘day care’. The kids learned to ’sign in’ by writing their names (taught 4-6 letters on average for the preK kids by winter break). They wrote signs or flyers (stop, go, menu). By spring they knew how to write and sound out at least a dozen letters. Many even tried to write their own words. All this without worksheets or ‘letter of the week’. The Kinder teachers remarked how students from my preK outperformed even kids from ‘private’ Prek programs. But this is just one learning style. I do wish parents had more options to enrolling their child in schools that use different teaching methods. What will work for some kids, doesn’t work for others. Obama has lofty ideals, but forcing a kid to ’stay in school’ is an utopian dream. In many cities, teen girls are planning single motherhood. Boys are more fascinated by the street life. Others see no hope in the future, as no hope has been shown to them. You will not see drop out rates decline, until the schools offer a more engaging school experience.
Ashley
January 25th, 2012
3:06 pm
A teenager who likes to work with his hands is never going to be interested in Shakespeare or Analytical Geometry, we need more voc-tech high-school for students who do not desire to go to universities. We have high-school for performing arts, high-school for math and science, but industrial art school or shop as they were call back in the day is virtually non-existence.
oneofeach4me
January 25th, 2012
3:07 pm
@Teacher ~ Financially that is just not an option for me. I really wish I could do that sometimes. However, if I do, we would be homeless as I wouldn’t be able to go to work. It’s a catch 22, I am darned if I do, and darned if I don’t.
@Roberta ~ I agree that teacher’s have to think outside the box to incorporate different learning styles. I wonder if they just get bogged down with administrative junk (like lesson plans, ect.)? I just wish it could change because I want my son to like school.
Ron F.
January 25th, 2012
4:25 pm
oneofeach- @12:27- I’m with you! As a teacher, we’re fighting the same battles, this year especially, with how much we really need to force kids to do and whether or not simply MORE curriculum necessarily means more rigorous. I’ve been teaching a long time, and I definitely see why kids get so tired of school so early. Budget cuts in recent years have only exacerbated the problem as music, art, drama, etc. get cut in favor of academic courses. All we can do is hope, I guess.
Ron Burgundy
January 25th, 2012
5:08 pm
Has there ever been a lamer president then Obama?
SLP
January 25th, 2012
8:12 pm
Dr. Monica Henson, thank you for what really is the most insightful and true comment of the day. There is no place for ego in education, yet so many teachers have the nerve to actually think there is no room for them to improve their lesson plans or teaching strategies. Lessons must be rigorous but they also must be relevant. In addition, you must have a relationship with your students. By the first week of class I know which student has been in foster care, who has already been to jail, whose parent/guardian has been to jail, etc. I make it my business to know because as a teacher, I need all the pieces of a puzzle to better serve my students. Businesses do it all the time. You would not dare offer a product or service without knowing the base of you customer. My students’ personal issues are not excuses for failure, but a darn good explanation. If “Jane” has to work a part-time job to help support her family, that might explain why Jane can’t stay awake in class sometimes or why she doesn’t always have her homework. I have enough sense and compassion — and knowledge of best practices — to know that I can provide alternate assignments and personalize my students’ work. It is easy to blame the student, and students must take responsibility for their academic success. But I also know that not every student is blessed to come from a home where the parent or guardian has made education a priority. I also know that not every parent is even in the life of a child. I guess my thing is that when students are in my classroom, I will not let them fail on my watch without a fight. Treat every child as if he or she were your own and you won’t go wrong.
Dr. Monica Henson
January 25th, 2012
10:45 pm
SLP, you are doing God’s work.
And I have no doubt that you are changing lives.
Dr. Monica Henson
January 25th, 2012
10:46 pm
My prayer this evening, and every day of my life, is for every student in every classroom in every school in this country to have a teachers like SLP: “I guess my thing is that when students are in my classroom, I will not let them fail on my watch without a fight.”
Anonmom
January 25th, 2012
11:00 pm
Maybe there was something to the middle ages where they actually utilized apprenticeships… we could have votech and military academies for those really not itnerested in being “college bound” and if those options were inappropriate.. they could apprentice with someone.
Jim Wright/Stonekettle Station
January 28th, 2012
1:22 pm
Speaking as a career military person and somebody who has spent more than two decades in uniform and under arms, some of you are seriously deluded if you think that the military should serve as a dumping ground for grade school dropouts and discipline problems. It wasn’t a good idea back in the 1950’s when judges could routinely give delinquents the choice of jail or Korea, nor was it a good idea in Vietnam. And it’s an even worse idea today. Nowadays the military is a high tech, complex, and intense career that demands discipline, intelligence, education and a willingness to learn, teamwork, and sacrifice. We fight with our brains more than with our brawn. We don’t need thugs. We don’t need brawlers. We don’t have the time or the resources to teach math and basic science and how to read and social skills. We need men and women of character, of strength, and intelligence. Despite the stereotyping that so many Americans gleefully engage in, we are not the unthinking robots or lowbrow knuckle-dragging homophobic slobbering baby killers that we are so often depicted as in the popular media and the public mind. We don’t trust billion dollar warships, million dollar aircraft, and the defense of the nation to people who don’t have the wherewithal to graduate from high school. Lousy students make lousy warriors, just as in school, they waste our resources and our attention and most times they don’t make it through their first tour. If you can’t teach them, what makes you think we can? If you don’t have the resources to teach them, what makes you think that we do – especially in the middle of a war?
I understand where many of you are coming from with your comments, just as I fully understand and appreciate the President’s point when he enjoined states to keep their children in school, but foisting the problems off on the already over-tasked military or the street isn’t the answer. What is? Hell, I don’t know, but I suspect partisan bickering and finger pointing isn’t it. Just as blaming teachers isn’t it. We spend a lot time and effort nation building in the dark and dangerous corners of the world, it might be time to do some of that here at home. //Jim Wright. http://www.stonekelttle.com