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Obama to Call for Better Graduation Rates (60% of Americans to get college degrees)
New York Times ^ | August 9, 2010 | SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

Posted on 08/09/2010 5:20:49 AM PDT by reaganaut1

President Obama on Monday will renew his call for the United States to lead the world in college graduation rates by 2020, an ambitious goal that senior administration officials say will require 60 percent of all young Americans to possess a college degree, up from 40 percent today.

The United States gave up its spot as the world leader in college graduation rates about 10 years ago, as students in countries like South Korea, Canada and Russia began to surpass their American counterparts. Now the United States ranks 12th among 36 developed nations; a report by the College Board last month warned that the gap threatens to undermine American competitiveness.

Mr. Obama, who shares that view, used his State of the Union address in January to call for the United States to resume its spot as the world leader in graduation rates. He will travel to Austin, Texas, on Monday to reiterate his education plan in a speech at the University of Texas there.

“We’re flatlined, where other countries have passed us by,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Sunday, during a conference call with reporters to preview the president’s remarks. Mr. Duncan called the 2010 goal “the North Star for all our educational efforts.”

Mr. Obama’s trip to Texas will pair policy with politics; before delivering his education speech, he will headline a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee in Austin. After the speech, he will make a quick trip to Dallas to raise money for Democratic Senate candidates.

And the speech itself will have a political edge; advisers to Mr. Obama say he will use it to remind Americans that, with just a few exceptions, Republicans voted overwhelmingly against legislation adopted by Congress earlier this year to revamp the student loan program

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News
KEYWORDS: bellcurve; college; education
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To: reaganaut1

Education is a great thing, but before pushing college, how about making sure that people get out of high school? The national high school graduation rate is around 68-69%, and is significantly worse in many cities.

The average public school high school graduation rate in the 50 largest cities in the nation is ~53%. In Detroit that number is ~25%, and in New York it is ~54%.

To address the high school problem, however, requires liberals to 1) be honest about social issues and the root causes of unequal outcomes, and 2) to be willing to fight the teacher’s unions.

I’m not impressed.


21 posted on 08/09/2010 5:41:05 AM PDT by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: reaganaut1

College graduation rates would improve greatly if we banned the NCAA.


22 posted on 08/09/2010 5:42:23 AM PDT by maine yankee
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Yeah, I don’t know how you REQUIRE people to get a college degree. Unless you have the equivalent of commissars making the decision.

I am a college professor and, my own opinions is that too many kids get pushed into college as it is. From what I’ve seen: one third of those in college deserve to be there, the next third might deserve to be there if they got serious, and the last third has no business being there at all.

Some college professors have no problem being high priced baby sitters who hand out As like candy. I’m not one of them, however.


23 posted on 08/09/2010 5:42:40 AM PDT by rbg81 (When you see Obama, shout: "DO YOUR JOB!!")
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To: reaganaut1
By all means; spend a ton more money. That has worked so well in the past.... . .
24 posted on 08/09/2010 5:42:41 AM PDT by csmusaret (A government that can dictate how much water flows into a toilet is a powerful government indeed.)
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To: Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!
He truly is trying to destroy America and or he is an idiot.

I'll go with "and."

25 posted on 08/09/2010 5:43:50 AM PDT by twhitak
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To: reaganaut1
That's how delusional this Affirmative Action idiot is,He figures and rightly so, since that he got through college anyone can.Let's take it another step ,let Dogs Cats and Monkeys get a degree.
26 posted on 08/09/2010 5:44:08 AM PDT by Cheetahcat (Zero the Wright kind of Racist! We are in a state of War with Democrats)
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To: reaganaut1

Why would 60% of our HS graduates need college edumacations? What jobs are they going to do? Are they going to water the value of a degree that much? Are you going to need a BA to operate a fryer?

Got a better idea. Unless you’re going to be a scientist or engineer, to heck with college. Rebuild the vocational education system. Teach ‘em to build stuff. There is money in being a good mechanic, plumber, mason, carpenter, etc., and we need them!


27 posted on 08/09/2010 5:44:16 AM PDT by Little Ray (The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!)
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To: reaganaut1

The top Majors many will receive to ‘improve’ grad. rates:

1) African-American studies
2) Women’s studies
3) Art History
4) American Studies
5) Music Therapy
6) Communications
7) Dance
8) Leisure Studies
9) Poetry
10) Physical Education


28 posted on 08/09/2010 5:44:39 AM PDT by Le Chien Rouge
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To: MrB

Obambi wants to make Bachelor Degrees an E.G.O. item...Everybody Gets One.

I still submit that an 8th grader from 1920 could write better prose than a college sophomore today. And what is the use of such a percentage of BAs and BSs? We still need factory workers, farm hands, cowboys, and waitresses do we not?


29 posted on 08/09/2010 5:44:48 AM PDT by Monterrosa-24 (...even more American than a French bikini and a Russian AK-47.)
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To: reaganaut1

Most Ivy League schools have >90% graduation rates (mostly achieved by flexible individualized standards, I think).

So let’s have all the people 0bama wants go to Harvard and Yale!


30 posted on 08/09/2010 5:45:45 AM PDT by DBrow
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To: donozark

Yeah, Lets Dumb down America. They’s all white racists anyway. Lets make the graduation standards lower so other folk can get a debree.


31 posted on 08/09/2010 5:47:50 AM PDT by broken_arrow1 (I regret that I have but one life to give for my country - Nathan Hale "Patriot")
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To: reaganaut1
Trying to get 60% of Americans to graduate from college would be a fool's errand even if the country were 100% white, but as the Hispanic proportion of the population rises, it becomes even more absurd. Charles Murray has estimated that one needs an IQ of about 115 (about 1 standard deviation above average) to really study at the college level ...

You know they are not talking about raising more people to current accademic standards; this will be accomplished by dropping standards as required to graduate the targeted percentage of population.

32 posted on 08/09/2010 5:48:25 AM PDT by Paine in the Neck (Napolean fries the idea powder.)
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To: reaganaut1

All that will do is lesson the value of a college education. Already a college degree is required for a lot of jobs that really don’t need college skills. We waste a tremendous amount of resources in teaching C students to be a secretary.

We should work to make our schools better and more rigorous. College should be a privilege for those who show the most intellectual potential not a right that prepares people for low end jobs that don’t need college skills. That to me would do far more good than opening the doors to everyone in high school and overcrowding the colleges with C students. The larger classes and the weaker students would hurt the quality of education that the really talented people get.


33 posted on 08/09/2010 5:48:40 AM PDT by DemonDeac
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To: Little Ray

I agree that an investment in vocational education makes more sense. We need good plumbers, lab techs, etc.


34 posted on 08/09/2010 5:50:34 AM PDT by DemonDeac
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To: Paine in the Neck

“You know they are not talking about raising more people to current accademic standards; this will be accomplished by dropping standards as required to graduate the targeted percentage of population. “

Which will then mean you’ll need grad school to get the skills you once learned in high school.


35 posted on 08/09/2010 5:52:17 AM PDT by DemonDeac
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To: RVN Airplane Driver
If zero and his minions could get 60% of the los negroes to graduate from high school it would be a near miracle! That’s the first hill that the boy needs to climb....

Ozero...keepin' it real...
36 posted on 08/09/2010 5:54:20 AM PDT by CaptSkip
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To: csmusaret

First thing to note: college has become nothing more than a business.

IMO, perhaps he should consider opening more Close Match Book Before Striking colleges to get the 60% graduation he desires.

Went to a high school graduation, as an attendee not awardee, recently. Noticed the number of students who were graduating “with honors”. I kind of thought it odd that almost 50% of the entire student body were graduating with honors in a school the state considered of average achievement.


37 posted on 08/09/2010 5:54:40 AM PDT by Mouton
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To: T. Jefferson

Next phase of the reparations tour. Free college for all minorities, with degrees to anyone who attends one class.


38 posted on 08/09/2010 5:57:46 AM PDT by T. Jefferson (Batton down the hatches, full speed in reverse)
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To: reaganaut1
Not everyone is smart enough to attend college, and not everyone who is smart enough is motivated enough.

Good points. Yet, that is not the true issue. Obama thinks that a college education is the key to success/prosperity/happiness. This IS a major premise of liberal mindset. And it is full of fallacy.

Did Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan have to complete college to be sucessful? Did Charleston Heston have to get a Masters to be successful? I know a good mechanic who went to a trade school, also. Uh-oh, I guess this mechanic has no common sense because he did not go to college. It is beyond him to think of lofty ideas, such as Black awareness month or global warming. < rant/ >

39 posted on 08/09/2010 5:59:55 AM PDT by VRW Conspirator ( Who is John Galt?...heck...Who is Hugh Series?)
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To: reaganaut1
Actually, according to the Census data I dragged up (and used when I was a Navy recruiter), the percentage of adults over 25 who are either college graduates OR high school dropouts has been pretty constant over the past 40-50 years. About 75-77 percent of adults have a HS diploma (meaning 23-25 percent are dropouts), and about the same percentage have a Bachelor's Degree or higher, with the middle 50 percent somewhere in between.

More payoffs to the unions and leftist indoctrination? Nah, couldn't be that!!!
40 posted on 08/09/2010 6:01:34 AM PDT by OCCASparky (Obama--Playing a West Wing fantasy in a '24' world.)
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