The Daily Pennsylvanian :: Penn for Obama

Why do college students like Barack Obama?

Sure - he's a fresh face on the scene who talks about a new kind of politics for America. But Obama's popularity runs deeper than vague ideas about change. College students like Obama because he stands for the issues they care about.

One of those issues is education, and the American public school system needs reform. Thirty percent of new teachers quit within their first five years on the job. College costs have skyrocketed by nearly 40 percent over the last five years. And No Child Left Behind fell flat because of poor design, funding and implementation.

Obama's commitment to education goes back to 1985, when he became a community organizer in Chicago. In 1995, he was elected chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which financed enrichment projects at 200 of the city's schools. It wasn't until Obama wrote two best-selling books a few years ago that he and his wife, Michelle, could pay off their own debt in student loans.

Drawing on all that experience, Obama is offering a 20-page plan for education reform. Here are some highlights:

Reform No Child Left Behind - starting with adequate funding and better measurements of progress - so that teachers don't spend entire academic years preparing students to take standardized tests.

Create 200 new teacher residency programs, which will supply 30,000 well-prepared teachers to high-need schools each year.

Double federal funding for public charter schools and hold low-performing ones accountable.

Put $10 billion into early childhood education, because every dollar invested in early learning yields a $7-$10 return to society, in measures such as decreased need for special education services, higher graduation and employment rates, and less crime.

Make college affordable with a new American Opportunity Tax Credit, which will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free. And simplify the application process for financial aid by eliminating the current application - its five pages and 127 questions - altogether.

Those are all bold commitments, and they'd be enough in and of themselves to make Obama the "change," "youth" and "education" candidate in this election.

But what's most remarkable about Obama's education plan is its emphasis on the human spirit of public education - the teacher, the student, the parent - which could only have come from someone who has experienced the troubles of inner city schools and the burden of college debt firsthand.

Instead of measuring teacher quality based on the raw test scores of their students, for example, Obama's comprehensive reward system also recognizes teachers who serve as mentors to other teachers, work in under-served schools, have deep knowledge of subjects or offer additional skills.

Parents are written into the policy with the same seriousness as the funding proposals. A mandatory parent report card will help parents monitor their child's academics, a school-family contract will lay out expectations for attendance and behavior, and a new $500 million technology investment fund will finance not only learning in the classroom but also correspondence between teachers and parents.

Compare that to John McCain, who wants to keep No Child Left Behind's emphasis on filling in bubbles on standardized tests. McCain consistently voted against increased funding for after-school programs, providing grants to local education agencies and adjusting educational funding in 2005, in a bill which would have restored educational programs, increased the maximum Pell Grant and increased teachers' student loan forgiveness - and still reduced the deficit by $5.4 billion.

But that's what you'd expect from a candidate, who, during the primary season, didn't even have an education policy on his Web site.

The average college graduate's diploma comes at a price of more than $19,000 in debt. Barack Obama has a 23-year record of fighting for that student; his opponent has a 30-year record of indifference.

College students like Obama because he's the candidate who stands up for their issues, with a commitment that's grounded in real life.

With education, we have an issue - and a choice - that transcends politics.

Sara Himeles is a former DP staff writer, College junior and member of Penn for Obama.

This is the first in a three-part series. This month, both campaigns discuss education policies. Next month, hear from both of the student campaigns about their candidate's plans for healthcare reform!

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Comments (6)

Actually, a lot of college students like Obama because he's "cool" and "anti-establishment." Many like him because they don't pay income, estate, or capital gains taxes -- so they don't mind the fact that he plans to raise them. And many like him because the only thing they know about foreign policy and national security is what they hear from left-wing commentators on CNN and left-wing professors here at Penn. Many have never seen the true face of evil in Al Queda by serving in the military, working for an intelligence agency, or visiting Ground Zero. Fortunately, college students comprise only a small portion of the electorate.

The US electorate contains way more beer-bellied, flag-waving, poorly educated bubbas who consistently vote for the GOP. This is pure genius since the republicans have always been the party of the country club set. Fear and resentment of foreigners, immigrants, minorities and a refusal to accept a different world from the 50's is the core of the GOP message since Nixon's "Southern Strategy" of 1968. The Dems, the traditional party of the South, lost the white vote the minute after LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act.

[QUOTE id="cc61a167-fe7a-4e69-bba2-50d89c616b33"]The US electorate contains way more beer-bellied, flag-waving, poorly educated bubbas who consistently vote for the GOP. This is pure genius since the republicans have always been the party of the country club set. Fear and resentment of foreigners, immigrants, minorities and a refusal to accept a different world from the 50's is the core of the GOP message since Nixon's "Southern Strategy" of 1968. The Dems, the traditional party of the South, lost the white vote the minute after LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act.[/QUOTE] Did you seriously graduate from Penn? The Democrat Party was THE party of slavery and racism in this country. Here's how Senators and Congressmen voted on the Civil Rights Act...the percentages are quite telling! The original House version:[9] * Democratic Party: 152-96 (61%-39%) * Republican Party: 138-34 (80%-20%) The Senate version:[9] * Democratic Party: 46-21 (69%-31%) * Republican Party: 27-6 (82%-18%) The Senate version, voted on by the House:[9] * Democratic Party: 153-91 (63%-37%) * Republican Party: 136-35 (80%-20%) Democrats lost rural America when they became the party of far-left liberalism; that's why Reagan Democrats voted for Ronnie in the 80s.

While Obama's plans to get the parents involved through a report card, etc are admirable, they are also out of touch and naive, as is the author's article. Most parents in poor school systems aren't involved in their kids educations, not only because they don't care, but because they don't see the benefits of the education or have too large of troubles on their own. I went to school with kids who paid the rent for their drunk father by working from after school until midnight every night, with kids who had no parents in the household but paid the rent so their brothers could live there and go to school, with kids whose parents were home even less than they were, and with kids whose parents didn't care if they graduated because the parents didn't think a HS diploma was worth more than not having one, and kid who never felt that college was an option, but knew they could make a few hundred a week dealing coke and weed. You show me how you are going to get these kid's parents to Parent-Teacher conferences. Wake up, get rid of the trendy "Obama means change" and actually experience the issues. ======= "But what's most remarkable about Obama's education plan is its emphasis on the human spirit of public education - the teacher, the student, the parent - which could only have come from someone who has experienced the troubles of inner city schools and the burden of college debt firsthand." The author completely lost me here.. and bought into Sen. Obama's false 'experiences.' Obama didn't experience an inner city school, and his college debt was less than traditional. Obama's college debt is much different than the traditional American because his debt comes from attending one of the highest rated schools in America. When you graduate from a school like PENN or Harvard with a degree in Law you raise yourself from ever truly experiencing the pain of being a middle class American with a standard degree from State U. Much like how Wharton MBA students don't really worry about student loans, neither did or should Obama because no matter what happens the value and network associated with a Harvard Law degree guarantees its holder with a job above 100K if they want it. Don;t forget, Obama did work for a top tier Chicago Law firm, and taught at the Univ of Chicago. He was not wondering where his next meal was coming from when he was a community organizer. This is a far cry from the middle class American who attends State U and graduates with 20-60K in student loans plus a $7K Credit Card debt, only to find a "good" job making $40K a year. This is what happens, and just proves that the author who is naive enough to write the above article must have come from an insulated Ivy League school.

I think that Obama made a mistake in not picking Clinton as his running mate. Then McCain took advantage of that mistake by picking Sarah Palin as his running mate. Palin has an 80% approval rating as governor.

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