US fighting Chindia: Obama
Oct. 6: Weeks ahead of his trip to India, the US President, Mr Barack Obama, has said America is in fight for future with countries like India and China who are spending massively on education, while his country has been cutting its budget on the sector.
“Think about it. China isn’t slashing education by 20 per cent right now. India is not slashing education by 20 per cent. We are in a fight for the future — a fight that depends on education,” Mr Obama said in his remarks at a White House Summit on community colleges.
“Cutting aid for 8 million students, or scaling back our commitment to community colleges, that’s like unilaterally disarming our troops right as they head to the frontlines,” he said.
Mr Obama said he strongly disagrees with the economic plan that was released last week by the Republican leaders in Congress, which would actually cut the expenditure on education by 20 per cent.
“It would reduce or eliminate financial aid for 8 million college students. And it would leave community colleges without the resources they need to meet the goals we’ve talked about today,” he argued. “Instead, this money would help pay for a $700 billion tax cut that only 2 per cent of the wealthiest Americans would ever see — an average of $100,000 for every millionaire and billionaire in the country. And that just doesn’t make sense — not for students, not for our economy,” he observed.
The US President announced that the Gates Foundation is starting a new five-year initiative to raise community college graduation rates.
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