By 2020, the United States will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world, President Obama said in a televised speech at Georgetown University Tuesday afternoon.
This was part of the president's focus on education as one of the key factors in ending the economic recession. Though the United States is currently falling behind in graduation rates and achievement, the new administration is taking steps that will give Americans the education necessary to compete for the high-wage, high-tech jobs of the 21st century, Obama said to a small but tightly-packed crowd in Georgetown's Gaston Hall.
"I've asked every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training," he said. "We've provided tax credits to make a college education more affordable for every single American, even those who attend Georgetown."
The audience, composed mostly of Georgetown students and faculty, responded to Obama's remark with laughter, cheers and applause.
At several points in the speech, audience members in Gaston Hall could hear the faint voice of a protester projected from a bullhorn.
Several activists from the anti-abortion organization Women Against the Killing and Exploitation of Unprotected Persons stood at the campus entrance during Obama's speech, holding posters of aborted fetuses and shouting to passersby.
Missy Smith, the president and founder of WAKEUP, said the group was protesting Obama's presence at a Catholic university because he is a pro-abortion president. His policies have given money to forced abortions in China and have supported partial-birth abortions, Smith said.
"We're really very much against the killing of pre-born," she said. "It's against Catholic doctrine."
Mara Hollander, a freshman at Georgetown, was one of several students who set up a counter-protest across the street from the anti-abortion activists.
"We're all here to ... show that there are students at Georgetown and other people around here who support women, support choice and support women's rights," she said.
It is important for students to focus on engineering and science after they graduate, Obama said during the speech.
"One of the changes that I would like to see, and I'm going to be talking about this for weeks to come, is once again, seeing our best and our brightest commit themselves to making things," he said.
This commitment to education is one of the five pillars necessary to rebuild the U.S. economy, Obama said. The other four were new rules for Wall Street that will reward innovation and punish abuse, investments in renewable energy that will create jobs, new healthcare strategies that will lower the cost of coverage and additional savings in the Federal budget that will lower the national debt.
The administration has already begun working on new Wall Street regulations and he expects to sign a bill on the subject before the end of the year, he said.
Katharine Modisett, a Georgetown medical student, said she liked the way Obama spoke in simple prose directly to the American people. She was also excited to hear the health care reform goals Obama set.
"I have a lot of faith and confidence in his plan and really trust him," she said.
Matt, a junior at Georgetown who preferred his last name not be mentioned, said he thought the president's education investments will help more students afford school in the long run. Georgetown students received an e-mail Monday informing them Obama would be visiting the next day. Students received tickets based on a lottery system, and Matt said he was excited to be one of the few chosen.
"I put my name in a lottery last night, and I honestly didn't think I was going to get a ticket because practically every student on this campus put their name in," he said.
Obama ended his speech by saying weaknesses in both the economic system and political system are responsible for the current recession. Changing these policies requires a great deal of responsibility from members of Congress from both parties, he said.
"There is no doubt that times are still tough," Obama said. "By no means are we out of the woods just yet. But from where we stand, for the very first time, we are beginning to see glimmers of hope."
You can reach this staff writer at mkendall@theeagleonline.com.
