Education and Presidential Politics

What's with this attack on higher education from this current field of republican presidential candidates!


In this season of presidential politics the subject of higher education has made its way into the political discourse. If you recall, republican presidential hopeful, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum,(R-Pa) recently called President Barack Obama a "snob" for wanting all Americans to go to college. Former Speaker of the House, current presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, (R-Ga) continues his assault on those he calls the educated "elites" who he blames for the decline of America's manufacturing industry,"If you can’t manufacture anything, you don’t have any jobs for people who are regular, everyday folks. We’re not all going to end up being tenured professors at Harvard,” he said, according to the Concord Monitor. 

Just in case you didn't already know, Santorum, managed to make his way through the halls of academia on more than one occasion, securing along the way a bachelors's degree, Juris Doctorate and MBA. While Gingrich aka "the Historian" has spent time teaching in the academic environment he seems to detest. So it would appear post-secondary education has played a very important part in the lives of both Santorum and Gingrich. Republican presidential frontrunner, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, (R-Ma) has criticized President Obama's academic roots in an accusatory fashion during the course of his race for the republican party nomination."Like his colleagues in the faculty lounge who think they know better, President Obama demonizes and denigrates almost every sector of our economy," he said during his Nevada caucus victory speech, according Washington Post reports.


I think it's worth revisiting what President Obama has said on the subject of higher education, and not let his political rivals play fast-and-loose with the facts. If you take a look back at the State of the Union address, President Obama said as a country "We can't allow higher education to be a luxury in this country. It's an economic imperative that every family in America has to be able to afford." He spoke of how important it is for Americans to take advantage of educational and training opportunities available at community colleges, not just four-year universities. This doesn't sound like an elitist, but more like a realist who understands the importance of having an educated citizenry, if America is going to  compete in this global economy. In one generation, the United States has gone from having the highest college attainment rate in the world among young adults to ranking 16th, according to the latest government figures. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently said " those with bachelor's degrees, on average, earn about $1 million more over their lifetime than those with only a high school diploma." Some may dispute Secretary Duncan's numbers, but there is no disputing the earning potential that comes with a college degree.


So, as the presidential campaign season moves forward, let's have a national conversation about spiraling college costs and mounting student debt, but hopefully we can engage in earnest and intelligent discourse of the sort that lifts all Americans, and inspires us all to view higher education as a goal that's not just necessary, but attainable. There are too many first generation college graduates...still to come.   
...MyMusings
      "No slogan of democracy; no battle cry of freedom is more striving then the American parent's simple statement which all of you have heard many times: 'I want my child to go to college."-- President Lyndon Baines Johnson, November 15, 1967