Emphasising on the need to improve the country’s education system, US President Barack Obama has said this is necessary so that American companies do not look at China for workers.
Obama, who in the past has mentioned India and China in the same breadth, did not mention India on this particular issue in his speech at the Time Warner Cable Arena at the end of the Democratic National Convention wherein he accepted the presidential nomination.
“Now you have a choice, we can gut education, or we can decide that in the United States of America, no child should have her dreams deferred because of a crowded classroom or a crumbling school,” Obama said.
“No family should have to set aside a college acceptance letter because they don’t have the money. No company should have to look for workers in China because they couldn’t find any with the right skills here at home,” the US President said.
Noting that education was the gateway to opportunity for him, Obama said that for the first time in a generation, nearly every state has answered the call to raise their standards for teaching and learning.
“Some of the worst schools in the country have made real gains in math and reading. Millions of students are paying less for college today because we finally took on a system that wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on banks and lenders,” he said.
Though the Government has a role in this, he said teachers must inspire; principals must lead; parents must instil a thirst for learning, and students, have to do the work.
“And together, I promise you, we can out-educate and out-compete any country on Earth. Help me recruit 100,000 math and science teachers in the next ten years, and improve early childhood education,” he said.
“Help give two million workers the chance to learn skills at their community college that will lead directly to a job.
“Help us work with colleges and universities to cut in half the growth of tuition costs over the next ten years. We can meet that goal together. You can choose that future for America,” Obama said.