President
Obama made a few key references to the role of education in America in his inaugural speech.
President
Obama’s rousing speech hit on key themes of using education to revitalize the
workforce to advance both the American economy and society. His references to science
and the workforce also hit on key platform themes such as immigration, the
Common Core standards, and investments in education as method to alleviate
poverty in America. Equality of opportunity, particularly through education was
a central theme as spoke of his ideal that a little girl born in the “ bleakest
of poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else,
because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal”.
President Obama
used education an allegory for social mobility, underlined with equality of
opportunity. He addressed the American mission to “harness new ideas and
technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools,
and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more,
and reach higher.” It will be very interesting to see how education in the
District of Columbia and across the nation changes and hopefully improves to
meet the needs of citizens.
