Education is not just about going to school and getting a degree. It is about widening your knowledge and absorbing the truth about life - Shakuntala Devi. This has been an emphasis by the United States government, especially the education ministry. However, the effort applied in the implementation of this statement brings doubt about the ministry's commitment to it. The education sector has been faced with major scandals in the recent past that are evidence that the value of education is greatly lowered. From parents bribing officials to secure opportunities in universities to the government’s decision to cut its spending on education, they are illustrations of how the value of education is being degraded unconsciously. In his blog, "What College can mean to other America," Mike Rose (2011) explains the reduction of the number of students joining college due to lack of funds. His focus is especially among the poor, and the consequences of this government’s action. Will the deep cut in education, especially to programs that aid the poor connect to school and work, have a disastrous long-term economic consequences?
As Mike Rose notes, the passion and thirst for education are great among American living below the poverty line. In these areas, education is of low quality, with some students not completing high school. There are long lengths of unemployment, followed by short employment contracts where the pay is not assured (Rose, 2011). Students, therefore, enjoy and prefer technical courses compared to theoretical ones since the chances of securing a job are higher. They prefer to learn how to repair a broken down engine than study Mathematics and English, as the available jobs, which are few require manual work. A proper thesis statement for a paper addressing these issues would be: The deep cuts on the education budget will have a disastrous long-term effect on America’s economy.
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Brandon Catherine, (2009). Investing in Education: The American Graduation Initiative
In 2009, in a bid to build a stronger education base for graduates looking for jobs, President Obama launched the Federal American Graduation Initiative. This program was aimed at increasing the number of graduates from Colleges by 2020. The government was supposed to finance the process, especially among poor Americans. The program was supposed to fund the colleges with $ 12 billion which were to be used by trainers to get better delivery skills and renewal of skills to prepare their students for a 21 st -century job market. It was also to help install new resources for these learning centers. Catherine Brandon, however, notes the enthusiasm with which the idea was met with, especially because Former President Obama was speaking during college graduation. The initiative aimed at solving the problem of long spans of unemployment and short-term jobs, especially among poor Americans. It was seen as a long term solution to the problem of talking about innovation, yet the people lacked skills that would stimulate their innovativeness.
Berube, A. (2010). The End of the American Graduation Initiative.
The article explains how the proposal to empower local colleges did not come into fulfillment. Alan Berube goes into details of how the initiative was never successful after healthcare was prioritized. Despite there being other smaller and less urgent projects whose funding would have been used for healthcare, the $ 12 billion funds aimed at empowering local colleges were used for healthcare cover. State governments, who have the mandate over education, had neglected local colleges for long. The presidency had revived their prosperity dreams but did not achieve. The legislature felt that healthcare was more important and urgent than reviving education in local colleges. However, they were not completely left out as they were assigned $ 2 billion, although far much below the budget. In his article, Berube hopes that it will not be the last time that the proposal to improve education in the two years’ institution gets national attention.
Marcus, J. (2019). 10 Years Later, the Goal of Getting More Americans through College Is Way behind Schedule. The Hechinger Report.
The author reviews former president Obama’s dream ten years later. Marcus notes that i t is a difficult time to operate in, given the rising standards of living and the increasing number of students needing admission into college. The government does also want to burden citizens with too high taxes. The president noted how this initiative would change the lives of millions of youth living in poverty in America. The dreams of these young people were no longer valid due to the large capitalism nature of operations in America. Citizens are losing hope on the idea, since colleges, including Macomb Community College, in which Obama spoke, are admitting fewer students. Education is becoming less affordable among the poor. The quality of education in colleges has also reduced, which has led to half-baked graduates. President Trump administration is yet to answer questions on what it plans to do about the graduate initiative because it is still a valid solution to unemployment and understaffing. The funding by the national and state governments is still below average for local colleges.
References
Marcus, J. (2019). 10 Years Later, the Goal of Getting More Americans through College is Way behind Schedule. The Hechinger Report. Retrieved 19 th May 2019 from https://hechingerreport.org/10-years-later-goal-of-getting-more-americans-through-college-is-way-behind-schedule/
Brandon, K. (2009). Investing in Education: The American Graduation Initiative. The White House. Retrieved 19 th May 2019 from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2009/07/14/investing-education-american-graduation-initiative
Berube, A, (2010). The End of the American Graduation Initiative. The Brookings Press. Retrievd 19 th May 2019 from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2010/03/23/the-end-of-the-american-graduation-initiative/
Rose, M. (2011). What College Can Mean to the other America.
