Obama cheers competitions as a tool for change
In his State of the Union speech this morning, President Barack Obama praised competitions as a tool to create change. He also emphasized the importance of being competitive as a student and striving for academic excellence, to be successful on the international job market.
First, Obama emphasized the importance of focusing on academic excellence. We wholeheartedly support the notation that winning an academic competition should make you as famous as if you are a sport star:
“We need to teach our kids that it’s not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair. “
Second, he talked about the importance of innovating the educational system and talked about how competitions can be used as a more effective tool to spur innovation:
“When a child walks into a classroom, it should be a place of high expectations and high performance. But too many schools don’t meet this test. That’s why instead of just pouring money into a system that’s not working, we launched a competition called Race to the Top. To all 50 states, we said, “If you show us the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement, we’ll show you the money.
Race to the Top is the most meaningful reform of our public schools in a generation. For less than 1 percent of what we spend on education each year, it has led over 40 states to raise their standards for teaching and learning. And these standards were developed, by the way, not by Washington, but by Republican and Democratic governors throughout the country. And Race to the Top should be the approach we follow this year as we replace No Child Left Behind with a law that’s more flexible and focused on what’s best for our kids.”
How about that!? Way to go competitions!
It seems like even at the government level, people are now slowly beginning to understand the true power of competitions as a tool for change. Join the revolution and compete today!
Challenge Yourself – Challenge the World!
Text: Gustav Borgefalk
Image: Whitehouse.gov
Read the entire speech here.
