I find it a bit aggravating to go to a newspaper web page and then find they have a politician's speech behind their firewall or "copyright" when that same speech is obviously not something the paper wrote and is available free at another website. As you probably are aware, President Obama visited South Dakota yesterday to speak at the commencement at Lake Area Technology, Watertown, SD. His visit there completed his visits to all states.."Saving the best for last". You can read the text at the link below.
President Obama Remarks at Lake Area Tech May 8, 2015 at Raucous Caucus
Source is the White House Press Office.
I have slogged through the Remarks again. Of the six pages of single-line spaced text only about one page is generally related to education policy, I have added those paragraphs below today on May 10, 2015. Below are excerpts from the whole transcript at Raucous Caucus.
So the question is, why am I here? Well, you started to hear the answer earlier from the previous speaker. Why would I come to a two-year college in the fifth-biggest city in South Dakota?
Well, the reason is because I believe that in a fast-paced, hyper-connected, constantly changing world, there are few institutions that are more important to America’s economic future than community colleges. And there are few community colleges that are as important as Lake Area Tech. This school is leading the way.Class of 2015, you’re about to graduate into an economy that is fundamentally different than the one that faced the first class of Lake Area graduates over a half-century ago. You’ve seen a lot of the perils of this economy firsthand -- how good jobs and entire industries can vanish or be shipped overseas. How a crisis, because of some of irresponsible folks on Wall Street, can punish families on Main Street with one of the most vicious recessions in our country’s history.
So it would be easy to just throw up your hands and say, “What hope does a place like Watertown have in a global economy? What place does somebody like me have in today’s job market?” But instead of looking backwards, you looked forward. You saw doors of opportunity waiting to be opened. You decided that community college would be your key to unlocking those doors.
And that’s why I think the country should return the favor. We should have faith in people like you. We should invest in people like you. Our budgets should reflect that we care about you.
That means giving everybody in America the same chance you have here -- the chance to earn new skills that lead directly to a good job. And this is an idea that has united philanthropists and companies and educators around a common mission. And at a moment when our politics sometimes can seem really divided, this is an idea that actually has some bipartisan support. From the Republican governor of Tennessee to the Democratic mayor of Chicago, leaders across our country are laying out plans to put a college education within reach for everybody. (Applause.)
And I’m proud of what we’ve done to expand Pell grants, and the fact that so many young people here are recipients of Pell grants. So when I came into office, not as many folks were getting them. And I’m proud of what we’ve done to try to keep interest rates low on student loans. But we can do more than what we’re doing.
That’s why this year, in my State of the Union Address, inspired by a letter I received from a hardworking mom like Leanna, I put forward a proposal of my own. I want to lower the cost of community college in America to zero. (Applause.) I want to make it as easy to go to community college as it is to graduate from high school, if you’re willing to work hard.We live in a 21st century economy that rewards knowledge and innovation like never before. So as a country, we can’t afford to let any striving American be priced out of the education they need to get ahead. For everybody willing to work for it, we need to make two years of community college as free and universal as high school is today. It’s the right thing to do. (Applause.) It’s the right thing to do.
And you know, if that seems pie in the sky, just remember -- four years of free high school was once hard to imagine, until we as a country decided to give every child that chance. Helping veterans go to college on the GI Bill was hard to imagine, until we decided our returning heroes deserved nothing less. Pell grants for lower-income students were hard to imagine, until we decided that by investing in their future, we were investing in our own.That’s part of what makes America exceptional. We are family, and we’ll do anything to help each other along the way.
**** Stay tuned for more good free stuff (and perhaps some trash too)-- Doug Wiken
Comments