President Obama's YouTube Interview: A Focus on Education

While President Obama was delivering his State of the Union speech, the White House opened a moderator platform on YouTube so thousands of Americans could post their questions for the president in response to his yearly speech. The best questions were used to interview the president on January 30. The questions were not filtered by the White House and were not seen by the President prior to the interview with Mr. Grove at the White House.

The questions were mostly about health care, the economy, foreign relations, education, and renewable energy.

Being an eighth-grader, the part of the questionnaire that really stood out to me, was the part concerning education. The president proposes that "you will not have to pay more than 10 percent of your income on those loans; that after 20 years they'll be forgiven; and if you've gone into public service, they'll be forgiven after 10 years." The Pell Grant program will also be expanded.

President Obama also declared that by 2020, we will make it a goal for America to once again have the highest college graduation rate.

He explains that it is crucial to the economy to have an educated public of critical thinkers, good workers, and good citizens.

To promote higher graduation rates, the Obama Administration has initiated the Race to the Top Contest.

For more about the president's State of the Union speech, read this article. To learn more about the White House YouTube page and to read its blog, click here (you can read many of the questions submitted to the President).



Sources: White House Official Website
by: Brigette W.