Investing in Education:
The American Education Initiative
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Since this recession began 20 months ago, 6.5 million Americans have lost their jobs. Now the unemployment rate is approaching 10 percent.
That’s not just abstractions. Those just aren’t numbers on a page. Those are extraordinary hardships, tough times, for families and individuals who’ve worked hard all their lives and have done the right things all their lives. If you haven’t lost a job, chances are you know somebody who has: a family member, a neighbor, a friend, a coworker. And you know that as difficult as the financial struggle can be, the sense of loss is about more than just a paycheck, because most of us define ourselves by the work we do. That’s part of what it means to be an American. We take pride in work—that sense that you’re contributing, supporting your family, meeting your responsibilities. People need work not just for income, but because it makes you part of that fabric of a community that’s so important. And so when you lose your job, and when entire communities are losing thousands of jobs, that’s a heavy burden, that’s a heavy weight.
My administration has a job to do, and that job is to get this economy back on its feet. That’s my job. And it’s a job I gladly accept. I love these folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, well, this is Obama’s economy. That’s fine. Give it to me. My job is to solve problems, not to stand on the sidelines and harp and gripe.
So I welcome the job. I want the responsibility. And I know that – let’s just take an example. Many questioned our efforts to help save GM and Chrysler from collapse earlier this year. Their feeling was these companies were driven to the brink by poor management decisions over a long period of time, and like any business they should be held accountable for those decisions. I agree that they should be held accountable. But I also recognize the historic significance and economic prominence of these companies in communities all across the country.
I thought about the hundreds of thousands of Americans whose livelihoods are still connected to the American auto industry, and the impact on an already struggling economy. So I said that if Chrysler and GM were willing to fundamentally restructure their businesses and make the hard choicesnecessarytobecomecompetitive nowand in the future, it was a process worth supporting. Now today, after a painful period of soul-searching and sacrifice, both GM and Chrysler have emerged from bankruptcy. Remember, folks said there was no way they could do it? They’ve gotten it done already, in record time — far faster than anybody thought possible. They’ve got a leaner structure, they’ve got new management, and a viable vision of how to compete and win in the 21st century. Those sacrifices were shared among all the stakeholders: workers and management; creditors and shareholders; retirees and communities. And together, they’ve made the rebirth of Chrysler and GM possible.
It was the right thing to do.
But even with this positive news, the hard truth is, is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won’t be coming back. They’re the casualties of a changing economy. In some cases, just increased productivity in the plants themselves means that some jobs aren’t going to return. And that only underscores the importance of generating new businesses and new industries to replace the ones that we’ve lost, and of preparing our workers to fill the jobs they create. For even before this recession hit, we were faced with an economy that was simply not creating or sustaining enough new, well-paying jobs.
So now is the time to change all that. What we face is far more than a passing crisis. This is a transformative moment. And in this moment we must do what other generations have done. It’s not the time to shrink from the challenges we face or put off tough decisions. That’s what Washington has done for decades, and it’s exactly why I ran for president — to change that mindset. Now is the time to build a firmer, stronger foundation for growth that will not only withstand future economic storms, but that will help us thrive and compete in a global economy.
To build that foundation, we have to slow the growth of health care costs that are driving us into debt and we have to create the jobs of the future by growing industries, including a new clean energy economy.
But we also have to ensure that we’re educating and preparing our people for the new jobs of the 21st century. We’ve got to prepare our people with the skills they need to compete in this global economy. Time and again, when we placed our bet for the future on education, we have prospered as a result—by tapping the incredible innovative and generative potential of a skilled American workforce. That’s what happened when President Lincoln signed into law legislation creating the land grant colleges, which not only transformed higher education, but also our entire economy. That’s what took place when President Roosevelt signed the GI Bill which helped educate a generation, and ushered in an era of unprecedented prosperity. That was the foundation for the American middle class.
And that’s why, at the start of my administration I set a goal for America: By 2020, this nation will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. We used to have that. We’re going to have it again. And we’ve begun to take historic steps to achieve this goal. Already we’ve increased Pell grants by $500. We’ve created a $2,500 tax credit for four years of college tuition. We’ve simplified student aid applications and ensured that aid is not based on the income of a job that you just lost. A new GI Bill of Rights for the 21st century is beginning to help soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan to begin a new life—in a new economy. And the recovery plan has helped close state budget shortfalls—which put enormous pressure on public universities and community colleges—at the same time making historic investments in school libraries and classrooms and facilities all across America. So we’ve already taken some steps that are building the foundation for a 21st century education system here in America, one that will allow us to compete with China and India and everybody else all around the world.
Now I have announced the most significant down payment yet on reaching the goal of having the highest college graduation rate of any nation in the world. We’re going to achieve this in the next 10 years. And it’s called the American Graduation Initiative. It will reform and strengthen community colleges from coast to coast so they get the resources that students and schools need—and the results workers and businesses demand. Through this plan, we seek to help an additional 5 million Americans earn degrees and certificates in the next decade.
I know that for a long time there have been politicians who have spoken of training as a silver bullet and college as a cure-all. It’s not, and we know that. I can’t tell you how many workers who’ve been laid off, you talk to them about training and they say, “Training for what?” So I understand the frustrations that a lot of people have, especially if the training is not well designed for the specific jobs that are being created out there.
But we know that in the coming years, jobs requiring at least an Associate degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience. We will not fill those jobs—or even keep those jobs here in America— without the training offered by community colleges.
Let me describe for you the specifics of what we’re going to do:
First — We will offer competitive grants, challenging community colleges to pursue innovative, results-orientedstrategiesinexchange for federal funding. We’ll fund programs that connect students looking for jobs with businesses that are looking to hire. We’ll challenge these schools to find new and better ways to help students catch up on the basics, like math and science, that are essential to our competitiveness. We’ll put colleges and employers together to create programs that match curricula in the classroom with the needs of the boardroom.
Second — We’re going to back $10 billion in loans to renovate and rebuild college classrooms and buildings all across the country. All too often, community colleges are treated like the stepchild of the higher education system; they’re an afterthought, if they’re thought of at all. And that means schools are often years behind in the facilities they provide, which means, in a 21st century economy, they’re years behind in the education they can offer. That’s a mistake and it’s one that we’ll help to correct.
Third — Even as we repair bricks and mortar, we have an opportunity to build a new virtual infrastructure to complement the education and training community colleges can offer. So we’re going to support the creation of a new online, open-source clearinghouse of courses so that community colleges across the country can offer more classes without building more classrooms. Let me say this: The road to recovery, the road to prosperity, is going to be hard. It was never going to be easy. When I was sworn in, we were seeing 700,000 jobs lost that month. Then we had the same amount lost for two more consecutive months. Now we’ve got an average of about 400,000 jobs lost—but we’re still losing too many jobs. We will get to the point where we’re not losing jobs, but then we’ve got to start getting to the point where we’re actually creating jobs.
And it’s going to take time. There are going to be false starts and there are going to be setbacks. But I am confident that we can meet the challenges we face, because that’s what we’ve always done. That’s what America does. We hit some challenges, we fuss and argue about it, and then we go ahead and go about the business of solving our problems.
This article is adapted from remarks delivered by President Barack Obama at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan, on July 14.
