EDU in Review News Blog

What President Obama’s Re-Election Means for Education

The race to the White House came to an end Tuesday night. President Barack Obama will be serving a second term as the President of the United States. During his 2012 election campaign, he promised to help America build a better education system and wanted America to have the highest promotion of university graduates in the world by 2020.

A few months ago, President Obama proposed a one billion dollar effort to help students excel in math and science, known as the Master Teachers Program. A group of elite teachers will be a part of the program and their salaries will increase by $20,000 in an effort to put the best math and science educators in front of our students. “I’m running to make sure that America has the best education system on earth, from pre-K all the way to post-graduate,” said President Obama during a rally in July. Only time will tell if the program will be implemented in schools across the country or not.

As reported by the HuffingtonPost, Jeffrey Henig, a political scientist at Teachers College, Columbia University, said, “It’s clear the Obama administration will continue to make education a priority.” Henig predicts President Obama will look to improve how academic performance is measured, like designing new assessments students take.

Since being elected in 2008, President Obama has stopped student federal loan rates from doubling and increased funding for Pell grants for students that need financial aid. Additionally, he has adjusted the federal student loan system so that repayments are based on income rather the amount a student has borrowed.

Karen White, political director at the National Education Association (NEA), said during President Obama’s second term she will expect him to focus on early education and college affordability.

Imran Apollo, a student at Wichita State University, comments on why he supported President Obama’s education views, telling us, “Obama wanted to increase the budget for Pell grants, which would increase taxes. Romney wanted to decrease taxes by increasing the requirements to qualify for Pell grants, thereby reducing the overall amount of aid. Romney also stated that increasing aid only encourages colleges to increase tuition costs. While this may be true, I still felt that many families, middle class in particular, would have had significant trouble paying for tuition were they denied Pell aid, or if they received reduced aid.”

Another Wichita State University student, Courtney Seddon, weighed in on the re-election and how it will affect education, telling us, “I think Obama’s re-election will give a lot of educational opportunities to the younger generation; programs like “Pay as You Earn” and debt forgiveness make the financial burden of higher education so much easier.”

The Obama administration’s new program, “Pay as You Earn,” will reduce the payment cap on loan payments from 15% of the borrower’s income to 10%, which will accelerate loan forgiveness from 25 years to 20 years.

Education is a big issue for the country. Americans have high hopes for our education system. During the president’s first term in office he had created new policies and programs to better America’s education system. He has made college more affordable for individuals and eased the financial burden for graduated students.

Also Read:

How Your Grad School Selection Impacts Your Future

Obama Highlights Education in Nomination Acceptance Speech

Lack of Education Apparent in Unemployment Rates

12 Responses to “What President Obama’s Re-Election Means for Education”

  1. Ida J says:

    This is just another dream of Obama’s. He talkes aot of b.s. and thats all it is. The education our children are getting is nothing like what we were taught. History has changed and isnt correct, the math is so confusing to children,parents even the teachers, it makes it hard for them to learn. Half the kids cant even spell or add and subtract anymore, its a disgrace. We are not educating our children and they are growing up with no skills and jobs that are less meaningfull. They cant make enough to afford the things they need or want either,time for US to stand up and make AMERICA STRONG AGAIN. And our kids.

  2. Angel says:

    Ha! Come to Michigan and tell me education is important. I’m on my 3rd school because keep getting closed for financial reasons. It’s really hard to preach “Stay in school” when your school won’t stay.

  3. r g repke says:

    The whole idea, of course, is the conservative’s wet dream to privatize all education because there are billions of dollars to be made from a private educational system as opposed to a public educational system–and of course the religious right won’t have to put up with such anti-biblical ideas as evolution or climate change in a private school system.

  4. G R thomas, PhD says:

    I think that the President has lost his way under the stress of the ACA delays. We need him to reaffirm his devotion to a great inprovement in the quality of an American education. America needs to improve its education level and all people will profit from better higher education. People will never be relased from the choke hold of poverty unless they are freed by a better education.

  5. James Middleton says:

    It’s certainly time something was done about American education, but if – as this article seems to imply – master teaching is restricted to mathematics and science, then we’re rather missing the point. Many of the most inspiring teachers don’t teach those subjects, because (please excuse the cliché) they teach students, rather than subjects. Too many American teachers are totally dependent on textbooks; show them a great idea and their response will be “What page is it on?” Many of those who make a real difference teach arts subjects, or even fields of study that, technically speaking, are not even in the curriculum. Defining “master teaching” may be difficult, but recognising it when you see it is very simple; stop trying to prescribe it, and get on with recognising it. Reward good teaching and great teaching without compelling the practitioners to move up the administrative ladder or into other fields in order to be paid salaries more commensurate with their worth to the community and the nation. Then we might see some results.

  6. Bernidine says:

    President Obama’s re-election has been wonderful. It is the GOP, Tea Party, Bigots, and others like you who are destroying public education. You want separate schools and separate education. First, most parents are not educated, and cannot even teach their children to sit still and listen. Most of their children enter school not knowing how to spell their name, home address, telephone number , alphabets or how to count to twenty.
    The GOP Governors and people like them are the problem, as well as uneducated parents, who want the schools to be their babysitters.

  7. Eric carter says:

    If there any President that do as they say. Then i will believe them. But there been a lot of them butting EDUCATION in their speeches. And NOT one of them has done anything for education. Facts prove it. I believe this was just talk to get elected. Today teacher are teaching classes they are NOT quality to teach. If kids want to attend college with the help of a PELL GRANT then work hard in learning. Romney is right about it! There are to many kids using Pell Grant to attend college that would not quality I have seem so many youth who do not care about college. Not because they can’t afford it, Because they DO NOT WANT TO TRY TO BETTER THEMSELVES. I have nothing against education. It just that to many President use that to get elected , but never follow up in it!

  8. Gamelady says:

    Education is a state issue–not federal. Let’s cut the national government employees’ expenses and out debt situation will greatly decrease.

  9. steve mcdaniel says:

    Why are we 25 in the world of education? May be because the schools brought the smart kids down to the dumb kids level. The dumb kids should have work harder to catch the smart ones. We are 25 because of our dumb leaders

  10. Madde says:

    This is incredible! This is not the truth…. He isn’t going to make education better. He isn’t going to make anything “better” because he is destroying our country. You see? He is taking away from the rich to give to the poor so that the poor have “equality.” In theory it sounds like a great plan, but the rich have worked hard to make their money, they have worked to live comfortably and that they can have a higher standard of living. Taking their hard earned money away and giving it to another person who hasn’t a job or a care to get a job isn’t right. One may say, but this person’s poverty is circumstantial, they can’t help it. If they are committed enough to give effort then they will produce benefits (I.e. money, food, shelter). How does this tie into education? Well, it says above that he is basing student loans on income. If you have no income then you pay absolutely nothing, but the hard working man who makes more money, has to pay for himself and the other guy. How is that logical? I have always learned that we need to worry about ourselves and this is a fine example that disproves this ideal. If someone had a great job with a steady income he could theoretically be in debt for college forever. There are gaps in this plan and Obama is putting a blanket on top so that you are unexposed, naive. Take the time to read in depth on what he proposes and what he is preaching because it may not be all that it seems.

  11. Sandy Hook Students Welcomed at a New School in Monroe, Connecticut | Edu in Review Blog says:

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  12. Wayne D. says:

    Nobody saw this coming ???? I am more disappointed in the bulk of this once great nation that voted for his car salesman antics. If this country would simply pay attention to what is going on and how things work, we would not be staring another recession in the face. I hope everyone has a parachute, because we are going over the fiscal cliff.

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