Higher education in the United States of America has been dwindling for the last few years. This may be the major reason as to why President Barack Obama has turned his focus on improving education sector. He has been reinstating that economy of the United States of America relies heavily on education.
His education goal of producing 8 million more graduates by 2020 is because America is currently experiencing shortage of skilled labor in the manufacturing sector which forms the basis for economic growth. Speaking at the University of Texas at Austin, he stated: “Education is an economic issue when nearly 8 of 10 new jobs will require workforce training or a higher education by the end of this decade” (Lee, 2010).
He openly admitted that education standards in the United States of America have been declining over the past years. This has been proven by a drastic fall from position one to the current 12th position world wide over a short period of time. He remarked: “I want you to know we have been slipping. In a single generation, we’ve fallen from first place to 12th place in college graduation rates for young adults” (Lee, 2010).
He, therefore, expressed his fears that countries with well streamlined education systems may become more prosperous than the United States of America. He claimed: “Education is an economic issue when we know beyond a shadow of doubt that countries that out-educate us today, they will out-compete us tomorrow” (Lee, 2010).
However, President Obama’s goal of producing 8 million more college graduates by 2020 may not be achieved due to economic constrains. For instance, the current impact of inflation has led to negative effects on the U.S economy. This situation has been worsened by fluctuations of oil prices which have also affected global economic status.
Unemployment of young adults in the United States of America has also added its impact on the economy of the United States of America. As a result, the U.S Government has reduced its educational funding. Consequently, inadequate educational funding has led to a very great shortage of learning resources in educational centers.
Almost all the States of America are experiencing challenges in the education sector (Cramer & Elliot III, 2012). Therefore, educational standards in the U.S have been compromised. Some States have made remarkable efforts to generate extra revenue for supplementing National educational funding through increase of taxes.
However, very few improvements have been achieved. The K-12 education has been adversely affected by the shortage of funds because it receives the least share of funds from the States’ budget allocations (Cramer & Elliot III, 2012).
It is, therefore, true to assert that the President’s brilliant educational objective will not be achieved unless educational funding is increased. Increase in educational funding remains a great challenge in virtually all States, thus this challenge has to be dealt with first.
Though the President talked of designing effective strategies so as to ensure that students receive educational grants and loans, lack of enough learning resources in educational centers may impede developments in the education sector (Cramer & Elliot III).
President Obama’s Higher Education agenda may be made more difficult to be achieved by the current shortage of renewable energy resources. Nevertheless, President Obama believes that renewable energy sustainability holds the key to a stable economy (Lee, 2010).
References
Cramer, R. & Elliot III, W. (2012). To Limit Debt, Promote Savings. Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/02/10/essay-role-encouraging-savings-efforts-reduce-debt
Lee, J. (2010, August 9) Re: President Obama on Higher Education in Austin: “We Are Not Playing for Second Place” [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2010/08/09/president-obama-higher-education-austin-we-are-not-playing-second-place