President Obama understands the value of a liberal arts education. He's calling for access to higher education and better educational resources for all our children. He has an interest in history, literature, and the arts. In fact, the one person from the Bush administration that he has asked to stick around is Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Dr. Gates has a master's degree in History, and a Ph.D in Russian and Soviet History.
Through eloquent speeches, aligned with the reality in which we find our nation, Obama inspires confidence during hard times. He calls for educational opportunities that will benefit all of us, and we must respond to his calls. An educated person is a better citizen, and we need better citizens, not just workers and consumers. Look at the damage that "W's" lack of curiosity caused us all. This economic crisis is the result of the soullessness of putting self before the common good, money before morals.
Many Europeans believe that this country is all about money. Should we look for a monetary value in everything? The need for "Humanities 101" is more important now during these tough times than ever, to help people re-examine what they value and care about as humans. Thinking, reasoning, making connections to history is important to Obama and to the people he has chosen to help lead us out of this mess he inherited from the previous administration. Thank goodness we have a smart President, with a heart.
As of March 2, Obama's approval rating is 68%.
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42 comments:
I believe Obama has the wisdom to see that a liberal arts education has long term benefits to society, even though these disciplines may not generate the big bucks. You can not measure the the monetary value of a poem, but you can justify it's worth by showing how it helps people think critically.
Many of the business majors, and science majors I attended college with were arts minors. It's the application of skills learned through studying the arts that can benefit our work force, and help the economy.
Anon 10:12,
I agree! I remember when I was an art major, one of my classmates was a physics major who was minoring in art. Maybe during these tough times there needs to be different ways to integrate liberal arts with science, tech, and other job generating fields.
The humanities cannot become a "luxury" only the wealthy can afford.
I agree with you in the value of education, you've outlined it well here. While I am a conservative capitalist, I went to a liberal arts college, and I see the value first hand.
Here's an interesting question regarding President Obama's views on education - there is a big battle going on now regarding the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, a successful school voucher program that will die unless Congress reauthorizes it and DC approves it.
Quoting President Obama: "The biggest source of resistance [to reform] was rarely talked about... namely, the uncomfortable fact that every one of our churches was filled with teachers, principals and district superintendents. Few of these educators sent their own children to public schools; they knew too much for that. But they would defend the status quo with the same skill and vigor as their white counterparts of two decades before."
Will Obama stand up for his beliefs as he so clearly stated here and tell Congress he wants it to be reauthorized?
Anon,
I don't see Obama's statement as pro-voucher. I think he means that the quality of public education needs to be improved, especially in the urban districts.
Since you have taken this statement out of context, it is hard to be clear about what Obama meant as far as his beliefs about education.
From Lobbyline.com:
"School vouchers have far-reaching implications for black communities in urban centers. The majority of children are not served by voucher programs and thus the majority of African American youth, should vouchers march across the country, would have funding diverted to private and parochial schools at the expense of their already strapped public schools."
Vouchers actually mean MORE federal govt. involvement in education. Actually there are many reasons why I am against vouchers. In major cities like Cleveland they have not done anything to improve academic achievement. Vouchers leave poor kids behind. We need better resources for public schools.
I'm not certain I've taken his statement out of context . He stated in his address to Congress last week that "our schools don't just need more resources; they need more reform," and he expressed support for charter schools and other policies that "open doors of opportunity for our children." It sounds like Obama is viewing it not only from a monetary perspective but also to look for ways to reform / improve.
Vouchers may not be THE solution, but I do believe they can play a role in a solution that works for all.
I do question though whether just putting more resources toward the same educational structure will yield benefits or not. Items like the ability to hold teachers and administrators more accountable for their performance needs to be on the table - poor teachers and administrators unfortunately exist (as do poor performers in all jobs), and they should not be protected to the detriment of the children they are teaching. And there are many excellent teachers - how can we best recruit, retain, recognize and nurture them? We need an appropriate balance between scholastic achievement and sports achievement. I love sports and played basketball in high school - but does too much money and attention go to sports today? Legitimate question.
Many questions to ponder.
I cringe when I hear the word "reform" because in govt. it is usually people who are NOT experienced teachers who make the decisions about education. Vouchers have not been proven to improve academic achievement. And I don't support public funding for religious or private schools. A private school is allowed to decline a student with a voucher(ie bc of disabilities, sexual orientation, religion), but a public school can't choose it's students. Vouchers are backed by well funded conservative foundations, not grassroots orgs or community. If the public schools are left with mostly low achieving poor kids who don't have support at home, then that just hurts public schools. I believe in public education, I'm certified to teach in a public school, and I have seen the huge inequities from district to district. It's not fair that all kids aren't given equal resources.
I think administrators are the problem, not teachers.
As far as sports, yes I think too much money and attention is paid to it, and there needs to be a better balance between academics and sports. I think art and music are very important and research proves that the arts improve test scores.
Anyway, I am concerned,and I hope "reform" does not mean more testing!
"As of March 2, Obama's approval rating is 68%."
Republican Party's Current Approval Rating: 26%.
Bill, for the week of 2/18-22, Congress' approval rating (per CBS / New York Times) was also 26%.
I hit "send" too quickly - the rest of the point I wanted to make was that Pres. Obama has that high an approval rating because people believe he has the ability to act in a truly bipartisan fashion, bring this country together, and work out our problems. It is clear that congressional leaders (Pelosi and Reid) have not gotten his memo, and their approval ratings reflect it.
It will be very interesting to see whether they get with the President's program or continue to act as they have.
Yes, I believe what we're seeing w/ Congress's approval rating is the public's lingering emotional hangover after 8 years of Cheney/Bush. This will pass. Hang in there, Congress's approval rating, and President Obama's, will likely both be in the mid to high 70% zone in a few months ... and you are absolutely right in that what America needs right now in our government is bipartisanship. And, as you know, President Obama has gone to great lengths to engage Republicans. If anyone hasn't "gotten the memo," it's John Boehner and the new GOP party of "No." Hopefully, these embittered (sore losers?) power mongers will come around. Although ... we don't need them to. It will be interesting to see how low the GOP will allow its approval rating to go ... especially if they leave their leadership in the hands of Rush Limbaugh.
I hit "send" too quickly - the rest of the point I wanted to make was that ...
I believe the jaw-dropping and dishonest revisionist history the GOP is frantically trying to write right now (e.g., that FDR's programs caused the Great Depression), calls for Obama's impeachment, and its overall partisanship-on-steroids obstructionism is heading towards being accurately described as treasonous-- that's how much the GOP is putting its own interests before the interests of America. I've never seen a party behave so unpatriotically.
So much for legitimate discussion... Angie, it was a pleasure talking with you, I enjoy it and learn when I do.
Have a great day.
"Here's the facts: the GOP has never had a lower rating in the newest NBC/WSJ poll (link: DemFromCT's analysis) than it does now. Meanwhile, Congress — which still has terrible numbers — is on the climb, with a staggering 23 point improvement in it’s overall net approval rating."
From Daily Kos
Here's a link to the polls:
http://www.dailykos.com/
story/2009/3/4/134313/9457/
165/704618
"So much for legitimate discussion... Angie, it was a pleasure talking with you ..."
Poor, sensitive, baby boy ;)
please accept my sincere apology (wink wink) for civilly expressing an opinion different from yours.
Anon, Merci, thanks for stopping by.
I thought Bill was being civil here.
Thank you, honeykins :)
"I thought Bill was being civil here."
So did I, what was that Rs problemmo? I recall a very civil debate here a while back on Lynn Swann and that whiney R ran away crying and calling Bill "stupid." What's up w/ this?
Anon 9am, hardcore NeoCon Republicans (like that Lynn Swann "debater") are a profoundly, and tragically, mutated species of human.
In addition to being power mongers and sore losers, their defining character deficiency may be that while they can dish it out, they simply cannot take it.
UpSide: only 26% of them left and they're dropping like flies.
Lord of the Flies, House Minority Leader John Boner (pronounced BAY-nor, wink wink).
I'm glad I don't have to be bipartisan :)
Mr. Dottie is fair and unbalanced ;D
(but in a good way)
"As of March 2, Obama's approval rating is 68%."
UpDate: latest Newsweek Poll indicates President Obama's approval rating is now 72%.
And speaking of approval ratings!
CONGRATULATIONS VILLAS!!
On being the (non-newspaper-related) #1 Most Influential Political Blog in the Lehigh Valley again this week!
Villas, I second your much deserved CONGRATULATIONS and I'm certain it was your excellent exposay on Jim Martin that catapulted LVS(8) past LVR(9) in the BNN ratings. Well done!
Merci. Merci.
Ditto. Ditto.
And we'd like to extend a CONGRATS to the Lehigh Valley Political Blog which astoundingly (!) jumped from 20th place, to 1st place this week, in BNN's "somewhat experimental" Per-post Influence gauge. CONGRATS POLIBLOG!
We'd also like to give a SHOUT OUT to the Lehigh Valley's #1 "Newspaper" related blog this week (and #6 in PA overall), John Micek's mesmerizing (wink wink) Capitol Ideas blog.
Here's This Week's BNN Ratings Again.
Some of you may wonder why the snoozy Capitol Ideas blog is #6 in PA this week and The Villas far more interesting blog is #8? Simple. The Morning Call has about "600,000 unique monthly visitors" to its website and the Lehigh Valley Somebody blog has (and we're um estimating) only around 550,000. But anyways, CONGRATS Capitol Ideas!
Capitol Ideas was #18 last week ... and #6 this week? Steroids?
sort of :)
Villas, you are tres gracious. Here you are the #1 Most Influential Political Blog in the Lehigh Valley again this week and you are sending kudos to local right wingnut NeoCon blogs. Now if only we had this kind of genuine (wink wink) bipartisanship in Washington!
We hear ya ... and in addition to us being gracious, we are also the most humble blog we know of. By far.
OMG, I was just keying that in (the "most humble" part) but Bill beat me to it, hey great synergy!
I should have said it (mea culpa).
I, too, was thinking it (i.e., "most humble, by far") and I of course agree w/ everybody who agrees w/ Bill.
The Blanker
Thank you Blanker, I almost always agree w/ you too, talk about (wink wink) "synergy."
Has anybody seen Gladys?
she's right here ...
Merci.
LVS (#1!) Readers,
in addition to the LV PoliBlog's astounding ascent from #20 to #1 on BNN's "somewhat experimental" "Per-post Influence Meter," also noteworthy is that "Gladys Kravitz on Allentown" skyrocketed this week from #19 to #12 and Michael Donovan's Inclusion civilly clawed its way from #16 to #7!
KUDOS to "MM" and "MD," you're on the field and in The Game!
Interesting analysis and catch, Jack! From our lofty perch at #1, LVS hereby graciously and humbly extends our sincere (wink wink) CONGRATULATIONS to these two Republican blogs!
All kidding and pathetic neocon blog-gaming aside, the important thing is that Lehigh Valley Somebody Beat Lehigh Valley Ramblings again this week. Ha Ha.
And obviously this was on the strength of the Villas' truly astounding exposé post on Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin. Many, many more people were interested in this, than in all that stupid NorCo crap at LVR.
So figuratively speaking of course, the Villas broke O'Hare's jaw in 7 different places again this week.
(Ouch!) Sadly, this is true :)
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