Description: This is
a VOA Special English Education Report.
See text below
Text:
Fewer than sixty percent of students now entering
four-year American colleges are likely to graduate.
The completion rate is lower than for almost any
other wealthy country. Poor and minority students
have the worst graduation rate.
A new book about America's public universities
explores the complex causes of the high dropout
rate. The book is called "Crossing the Finish Line."
President Obama wants the United States to again
have the world's highest percentage of college
graduates by two thousand twenty. But to finish
college, children first have to reach the starting
line by getting there.
On September eighth, the president gave a nationally
broadcast speech to students about the importance of
staying in school. He spoke on the first day of
classes at a high school in Virginia. He talked
about personal responsibility, and used himself as
an example of someone who overcame difficulties.
President Obama said: "My father left my family when
I was two years old, and I was raised by a single
mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and
wasnt always able to give us things the other kids
had. There were times when I missed having a father
in my life. There were times when I was lonely and
felt like I didnt fit in."
But he told students that problems in their own
lives should not stop them from learning. Mister
Obama said: "That's no excuse for talking back to
your teacher, or cutting class or dropping out of
school. Thats no excuse for not trying."
This was not the first presidential speech to
students. Ronald Reagan spoke from the White House
in nineteen eighty-eight. And George H.W. Bush spoke
from a school in Washington in nineteen ninety-one.
But many conservatives criticized plans for the
speech. Some called it "socialized education" or
federal interference in local schools. Others feared
it would be too political. Some schools decided not
to show the speech. But the White House released the
text the day before the speech, and that calmed a
lot of critics.
On September sixth, on the CBS program "Face the
Nation," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said thirty
percent of students do not graduate from high
school. He called the dropout rate "staggering." It
represents more than a million students every year
who enter ninth grade but do not complete twelfth
grade.
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
