Michelle Goes to College

This past Tuesday, Mrs. Obama told a group of sophomores at a local Washington, D.C. high school that they could follow her own path of graduating from high school and attending a top university, The Wall Street Journal reported. She lamented the fact that the U.S. is ranked 12^th in the world on the country’s share of college graduates. “That’s unacceptable,” Mrs. Obama said.

She told the students that, “No matter what dreams you have, you have got to do whatever it takes to continue your education after high school…and once you’ve completed your education, you will have the foundation you need to build a successful life.”

Terry Hartle, the senior vice president of the American Council on Education, applauded her efforts and said, “We would have to make a much greater societal commitment” to push this effort through.

Her husband’s newest initiative, which is to push low-income students into college and increase the amount of college graduates by 2020, is considered unattainable by several experts. The Wall Street Journal said that these education experts note there are significant hurdles and challenges to fund such an effort. Georgetown University’s director of the Center on Education and the Workforce, Anthony Carnevale, said the goal requires at least $200 billion more in spending per year. He asked, “How are you going to pay for it?”

 

Spencer Irvine is a staff writer at Accuracy in Academia.
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