President Obama Gives First Major Education Speech

Ever since the President took office, he has been focusing on such issues as the economy, national defense and health care but has given little attention to education policy. On Tuesday, March 10, 2009 in front of the U. S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the President chose to give his first speech devoted solely to education. In the speech, he addressed various aspects of education but did not propose specific legislation. Instead, similar to his initial budget proposal, he provided an outline of potential initiatives that might advance in the future.

One of the concerns that many people have right now is that President Obama is trying to address too many problems at once. In his speech, he compared himself to such presidents as Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. For instance, he stated "Lincoln helped lay down the transcontinental railroad and passed the Homestead Act and created the National Academy of Sciences in the midst of civil war. Likewise, President Roosevelt didn't have the luxury of choosing between ending a depression and fighting a war; he had to do both." So these examples might be interpreted to explain that he can address education policy while addressing other major issues.

Just as in his de facto State of the Union Speech on February 24, 2009 in which he challenged people to attain some level of higher education, President Obama talked of the importance of college. He cited statistics that of the "30 fastest growing occupations in America, half require a Bachelor's degree or more. By 2016, four out of every 10 new jobs will require at least some advanced education or training." Whatever new policies the President develops, it appears that getting more students into college will play a major role. He even mentioned increasing the amount of Pell Grants and simplifying the application for student financial aid.

School standards were addressed by the president, but in his speech, he was vague and at no time called for national standards. Instead, he talked about state standards. In particular, he mentioned "in Massachusetts, 8th graders are now tying for first -- first in the whole world in science." Thus, we are not sure as to when or how he will work with states to improve standards to be presumably as high as Massachusetts.

In a controversial proposal that contradicts the policies of unions, the president called for higher salaries for teachers who are being successful and to remove ones that are not. In what would benefit STEM teachers, the President said "we support offering extra pay to Americans who teach math and science to end a teacher shortage in those subjects." There is obviously a shortage of STEM teachers and providing more incentives to recruit new ones will help alleviate the shortage.

Education has not been the primary focus of the new Obama administration as of yet. In addition, Senator Ted Kennedy had made it his priority to address health care before education. The speech President Obama gave before the U. S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce only mentioned No Child Left Behind once, but it appears the President is preparing to announce his education legislative agenda.

A transcript of the speech can be read here.