Obama Says Schools Can Improve as he Seeks to Change Education

The level of education in the U.S., long a thorn in the side of legislators, is one of the many issues that President Obama is trying to tackle as he makes his push to load a legislative schedule with domestic initiatives to help cement his reelection in 2012. In his weekly address, Obama discussed Booker T. Washington High School, in Memphis, Tennessee, where he recently delivered the commencement address. The school is located in a poor area in what has been described as a bad neighborhood, but graduation rates have increased over the past several years.


Noted the president in his address, "Booker T. Washington High School is no longer a story about what’s gone wrong in education. It’s a story about how we can set it right. We need to encourage this kind of change all across America. We need to reward the reforms that are driven not by Washington, but by principals and teachers and parents. That’s how we’ll make progress in education, not from the top down, but from the bottom up."


The concept, if not the reality of implementing it, is a good one. Teachers generally loath the "No Child Left Behind" program left in place by the former President George W. Bush, but Obama’s "Race to the Top" plan seems to be off the mark in all the same ways. The plan would have states compete for federal education money. Still, Obama is touting it as a new, good idea. It remains to be seen if it will actually work – assuming it ever is implemented – and the president has noted, "We need to promote reform that gets results while encouraging communities to figure out what’s best for their kids. That’s why it’s so important that Congress replace No Child Left Behind this year, so schools have that flexibility. Reform just can’t wait."

By Buzzle Staff and Agencies