President Obama, in cooperation with the Univision television network and their Es El Momento campaign, hosted a town hall meeting at Bell Multicultural High School Monday evening. Bell was ranked as the 77th best high school in the country by Newsweek and requires students to enroll in two Advanced Placement classes in English in addition to language classes in Spanish or French.
Hosted by Emmy-award winning news anchor Jorge Ramos, the town hall focused on access to higher education. To subside any thoughts, Ramos quickly asked about Libya, to which Obama said he would address the nation at the National Defense University Monday evening. In addition, Ramos and members of the audience, comprised of parents, students, and teachers, asked about the Dream Act, the education budget, school bullying, parent involvement in schools, and technology in the classroom.
“I’m someone who believes money is not everything when it comes to schools ... You can do well even when you don’t have a lot of money,” Obama said in response to a question concerning California’s education budget.
Obama claimed that California spent too much on its prison system as opposed to education.
“This is a decision made at the state level ... You should press your state legislators and governors to prioritize their budgets,” Obama said.
A Bell student addressed his concerns about funding of his own higher education. Obama said his administration expanded both the total amount of Pell Grant money and the number of Pell Grants issued.
“Starting in 2014, we’re going to institute a program whereby your loan payments will not exceed ten percent of your income,” the President said. Obama anecdotally noted how he and his wife Michelle were fortunate to pay off their loans by becoming lawyers.
Obama urged students and parents to get involved in their schools, stating, “If schools are not reaching out to parents, they are not doing their job.” The president also referenced Head Start, a comprehensive education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement program to low-income children and their families, in which the Recovery Act allocated $7-million.
Toward the end of the program, Obama criticized standardized testing and the weight they place on punishing schools, students, and teachers. He noted how his daughters, Sasha and Malia, recently took a standardized test and “did not study for it.” Obama stated that the purpose was to “diagnose” a school’s curriculum.
“What I never want to see is teachers teaching to the test,” he said.
In an interview following the town hall, Jose Rico, Deputy Director for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, said GW students can get involved in promoting higher education initiatives through the TRIO and GEAR UP partnerships.
“[The programs] offer opportunities for colleges to partner with high schools in the public school system, he said.” These programs, Rico added, promote parent involvement in the college process, put high school students in college classrooms with various resources and give educational opportunities to teachers.
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