America we a bailout for education and this bailout as just as important as the others. If you look at where America ranks in math and science compared to the world’s 30 biggest nations, it is horrible. Than if you factor in English meaning reading and writing it is even worse. America doesn’t even crank the top 10 on the list and as a nation that is supposed to be the best in the world, we are truly lacking when it comes to education.
Our federal government for centuries has not provided the necessary funds America’s educational institutions have needed. For many us, we may think that education is a state issue but when you look at the educational laws that have been created on the federal level that limit what states can do than you should understand why education is a national issue. A national issue that needs to be addressed by our federal government by finally giving education the bailout it so desperately needs. While the money that is in the quote unquote stimulus package is a step in the right direction, it is not enough to create the type of schools needed for our children to compete internationally. Also it is not enough to stop the price hikes on higher education tuition that is about to happen in the next couple of months for the Fall 2009-Spring 2010 school years.
Education in America needs a bailout like never before because many of our students don’t have enough text books in classrooms and most school districts can’t even afford the bare essentials that usually a school provides for children such as paper, pencils, pens, toilet paper, etc. This is the problem our educational system in America has been facing for years but now with our economy failing and our nation being in Depression, we need to now focus on the future which is education. We need to look toward the future by making sure that we finally invest in education the way it should have been invested in 30 years ago. The state of education in America needs a bailout like never before and that bailout must be larger than the amount that was put in the quote unquote stimulus package.
If we are going to pay our teachers more, if we are going to build state of the art technological schools, and make higher educational more affordable than we have to make education a top five priority of the Obama administration. Our education system in America has been left behind because of No Child Left Behind and that is why we need to put at least a trillion dollars in education since the Bush administration didn’t properly fund their plan. In fact advocating for a trillion dollars is a little modest but that would definitely put a huge dent in the troubles our educational facilities are facing today.
While much attention has been focused on keeping the middle class but what about those are attempting to claw their way into the middle class through education? This is the focus that the new Middle Class Task Force needs to address. A broad based stimulus package for education is needed and it needs to address not only PK-12 but college students. Think about it people, we can educate PK-12 needs all the help it can get because of not only NCLB which left hundreds of thousands of students behind mentally and socially. Also NCLB took educating out of the equation and made bubbling and test taking the core essentials of education which is a part of the reason the average American reading level is at a 5th grade level and I won’t even get into reading comprehension.
So if you really think about it, over the last 10 years people, America’s Colleges and Universities have seen a huge jump in the amount of students taking non-college courses referred to as remedial courses on many colleges campuses which are simply courses that college students pay for but don’t get college credit. Remedial courses are courses that many college students have to take before they can even take the courses they need to take to obtain the college degree they are seeking. In 1999, only about 17% of college students were taking these courses but now that has jumped to nearly 40%. In fact in 1999 out of the 17% taking remedial courses only about 4% of those were taking more than one remedial course. Now out of the nearly 40% of college students taking remedial courses, about 20% of them are taking two or more remedial course.
These are the numbers that are we facing and this is why more money, time and resources need to be placed on the importance of education. Our graduation rates have dropped to all time lows while our drop-out rates at an all time high since laws were implemented making it illegal for students to drop-out in many states before the age of 16. This is why when you look at America’s educational system, it is no wonder why a bailout for education is needed if President Barack Obama wants to live up to his campaign promise of giving every child in America an opportunity toward a world class education.
The education debate is not about private or public schools but it is about America finally giving its educational facilities and school districts the proper funds it needs to update our education systems nationally. Many schools both in urban and rural areas throughout America are dilapidated and are in need of being torn down so new schools can be built that are state of the art and filled with all the necessary technological advances needed to give kids a world class education. America we have to compete with the rest of the world through education. We need to get the best educated our schools not only on our colleges and universities but from PK-12. Our schools in America need the best teachers available who can teach our kids not only reading and arithmetic but foreign languages, social studies and science.
America needs to bailout education so that the future of America is able to put our country in a better position to dominate globally intellectually. For centuries, we as Americans are perhaps the greatest at being resourceful but now we need to not only be resourceful but we need to be intellectually resourceful. America, our education needs a bailout. Our college students need more grants and scholarships in order to just stay in colleges because the tuition hikes are drastically becoming ridiculous. In fact the average college graduates needs help in paying back student loans.
The average student graduates with $20,000 in student loans, and the average African American student graduates with $26,000 in loans. However our young people are already shackled before they begin their lives, their loan status dictating some career decisions. Therefore the education bailout needs to deal with better lending laws and repayment programs for college students so that students can not only pay off college loans but they can be forgiven for some if they perform certain tasks that America needs. This is what we are faced with and this is why the future of America will depend on how far the Obama administration invests in education.
While the Obama administration has offered a $4,000 tuition grant for students who do community service. That grant program is also a step in the right direction but I hope that as the regulations for the program are being developed, the Obama administration seeks input from college presidents, and also from students about ways the requirements for service should be measured. While raising Pell Grants to $5,350 a year is a step in the right direction, it isn’t enough. The Pell Grant needs to be at least $12,000 per year. It helps us train the next generation, it helps maintain college enrollment and while it is high enough to make a difference, it does not fully cover the cost of education but it would put a huge dent in what students and their parents will have to come up with on their own.
That’s why as we look at education, we need to be real about investing in it and we need to put the right dollars in the educational system of America. A lot has been said about generational theft when it came to the quote unquote stimulus package but it is truly generational theft when we continue to allow government to grow and spend on everything else but when it comes to education, our government has never properly invested and spent on it the way it should have. Now in the wake of an economic downturn, we need to finally put the trillions of dollars our educational system in America has needed for centuries or we will only be setting future generations back.
Education needs a bailout not now but right now. Therefore since our government is dulling out billions of trillions of dollars to everyone else, educators, students and parents need to be demanding from our federal government that they dish out at least trillion to education in the next year. We can’t afford to keep putting the future of America on the backburner when the future of our nation’s success will always be in what we do to improve education. Now is the time to properly fund education so that every child has the opportunity to obtain not only a world class education but has an opportunity to really compete with the rest of world.
A bailout for education is the only way; our nation can face economic downturns such as this one in a better way than we have faced it over the last year or so. Education is the gateway to improving America’s status in the world and it is the gateway for many Americans to get to be the middle class that our country continuously talks about. If don’t properly fund education and give it more of a bailout than what we gave to the states, the banks, businesses, homeowners, and the auto industry than we will continue to be faced with many of the issues in our educational system we face time and time again.
A BAILOUT FOR EDUCATION IS A TOP FIVE PRIORITY!
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