The Washington Post
President Obama on Monday defended his stance that higher education is critical to preparing Americans to compete in the global workforce, offering a tacit rebuke to Republican rival Rick Santorum who called Obama a “snob” for wanting everyone to go to college.Speaking to the National Governors Association, Obama called on the group to protect public investment in education at a time of shrinking state budgets so that teachers remain in the classroom.
Obama did not mention GOP presidential candidate Santorum by name in his remarks. But the president paused to say he wanted to make a specific point when it came to higher education.
“When I talk of higher education, I’m not only talking about four-year degrees,” Obama said. “I’m also talking about going to community college to get a degree for a manufacturing job where you have to walk through the door to handle a million dollar piece of equipment.”
The president added: “We all want Americans to get those jobs of the future. We need to make sure they get the education they need.”
Obama’s remarks came just two days after Santorum told a tea party group in Michigan that Obama is a “snob” because he wants “everybody in America to go to college.”“Not all folks are gifted in the same way,” Santorum told a crowd of more than 1,000 activists at the Americans for Prosperity forum in Troy, Mich. “Some people have incredible gifts with their hands. Some people have incredible gifts and ... want to work out there making things. President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob.”
Santorum is targeting working-class voters in his bid for the White House. Though he holds more college degrees than Obama, Santorum added: “There are good decent men and women who go out and work hard every day and put their skills to test that aren’t taught by some liberal college professor trying to indoctrinate them. Oh, I understand why he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image. I want to create jobs so people can remake their children into their image, not his.”
In addressing the governors, Obama touted his recent proposal to help college students consolidate loans, and he referred to his personal history to make his case that having government help to attend college is important.
He said his mother raised two children “by herself while still going to college because she was able to get grants.” The president added that he and first lady Michelle Obama, both highly educated lawyers, “are only here today because of school and student loans that gave us a shot at a great education.”
Obama said that more than 40 states have cut higher education funding over the past year, “part of a long-term trend of reduced state support for higher education.”
“Too many states are making cuts to education that I think are too big,” Obama said. “Today, I’m calling on all of you to invest more in education. Invest more in our children and our future.”
No comments:
Post a Comment