Obama’s New Education Agenda: Longer School Year and Higher Teacher Standards

With improving the economy in mind, U.S. President Barack Obama called for a longer school year to significantly improve the educational system of the country. Citing the alarming decrease in America’s global educational competitiveness, the President, in an interview, cited his intentions in putting up his education agenda. He acknowledges numerous schools that do not have enough funds to supplement their operational expenses. For that, he promised additional funding to these schools in order to maintain and preserve the quality of education that they are giving to students.

Obama also cited that money alone won’t fix the problems encountered by public schools. He added that for an educational system to be successful, it must set higher standards for students and teachers alike. That is why he is proposing to extend the school year of students to make them more competitive in this modern world. He mentions that other advanced countries such as South Korea have longer school years which translate into more learning’s for students. South Korean public schools implement a school year that is 1-month longer compared to American schools. Obama has cited that this additional 1 month school period is very advantageous and can really make a difference.

A report published by the Education Commission of the States indicated that U.S. schools through the high school levels offer an average of 180 instruction days per year. This is way below compared to the 197 days for lower grades and 196 for upper grades average of countries with best student achievement levels such as Japan, Korea, Germany and New Zealand. The president has also mentioned that though the per-student spending has gone up, the student performance has gone down. In an effort to boost the level of education in America, Obama has now called for a longer school year and called for a set of standards to be achieved both by students and teachers.

On Monday, the president announced his goal of recruiting 10,000 teachers who work in the field of science, technology, engineering and math over the next two years. He reasoned that these specialized teachers are very vital in teaching and molding students to be competitive against their peers especially when talking about the economy. While the president endorsed working with teachers unions, he also told instructed them to not resist change and do something especially if one-third of students are dropping out. He favors firing teachers who are not teaching the way they should be and setting standards to maintain competitiveness.