Department Speech

Alyse Henkel
Education
As your President in 2008 I will assure you our education will be at the highest it has ever been. With other countries trying to produce a higher education outcome then what the United States has brought forth I believe that we need to raise our education to format to the working class. I will make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students. Recipients of the credit will be required to conduct 100 hours of community service. I believe that everyone should work for their own education to make our country a better place. I believe that living in America gives people the freedom and chances that they need. I believe that children should not have to worry about the expense. They should just be able to find themselves not fighting for a spot in the global economy.

I agree with public education and believe it is the family’s choice to put their children in public or private school. I will give an equal amount of funding to both public and private schools.

The U.S. used to rank first in the world in the number of young people with a postsecondary degree; now we have fallen to seventh. This is not because our young people do not try, but because too many do not graduate. I believe we need to prepare our high school students to take college level classes. We cannot ensure we’re ready for the economic challenges of the 21st century if our schools and learning systems are firmly planted in the 20th century. Today, the information economy is revolutionizing every area of our lives, but too many schools do not have access to these critical resources. I believe we must put together technology and its range of applications into all our nation’s schools so that we go beyond the start that educational technology just means specialization in technology.

I also like The Obama-Biden education plan and I know it will prepare and reward our teachers by creating a Career Ladder Initiative that will offer federal dollars to states and districts that design innovative recruitment and reward systems that line up with the following principles:
• More pay for expert veteran teachers who serve as mentors and coaches.
• More incentives and opportunities for teachers to improve knowledge and skills.
• More pay for excellent classroom teaching that supports student learning and achievement.
• More pay for highly-qualified teachers who teach in underserved schools and underserved subjects like math, science and special education.