Education in President Obama's Inaugural Speech

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.