Friday, October 25, 2013

Obama Visits Brooklyn High School


Mr. Obama was cheered by visibly energized students and a strong cadre of New York politicians when he took the podium at Pathways in Technology Early College High School. “Hello Brooklyn,” he said, and started into his argument for creating more schools like the one he was visiting, casting them as essential in preparing the next generation of workers and entrepreneurs for competition in a global economy.


“This country should be doing everything in our power to give more kids the chance to go to schools just like this one,” he said, calling the school a ticket to the middle class.


Mr. Obama’s wish list included preschool availability for every 4-year-old in America, access for every student to a high-speed Internet connection, lower college costs, redesigned high schools that teach the skills needed in a high-tech economy and greater investment in teachers.


Mr. Obama zeroed in on Congress, imploring it to “do something” on the educational front. One way to start, he said, “is by passing a budget that reflects the need to invest in young people.”


He made a few sharper comments as well, in reference to the recent government shutdown, and added that if people thought spending on education was expensive, ignorance is costlier. “There is nothing more important than this,” he said. He also suggested that the entire New York delegation come to Brooklyn to see P-Tech and meet its students.


Marine One touched down in the shared outfield of a series of baseball fields in Prospect Park, kicking up a large cloud of dust and debris, including leaves, grass, sand and at least one gray T-shirt. Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, was there to greet the president, and the two rode together to the high school, known as P-Tech, in Crown Heights.


“We need to give every American student opportunities like this,” Mr. Obama had said during his State of the Union address.


It was a reference to the way P-Tech’s students are given both high school and college curriculums in a six-year program that is tailored for a job in the technology industry. When the first of those students emerge, in 2017, they are expected to have associate degrees in applied science in computer information systems or electromechanical engineering, having followed a course of studies developed in consultation with I.B.M.


In 2012, five P-Tech-styled schools opened in Chicago, in collaboration with companies like Microsoft, Motorola and Verizon. This year, two more schools modeled on P-Tech opened in New York City, with three more expected to open next year.


Hours before Mr. Obama arrived, the signs of preparation were in evidence: Streets scrubbed clean, stray cars towed and metal barricades erected.


And Kiambu Gall, 16, was wearing brand-new shoes.


“Man, Obama’s coming,” Mr. Gall said as he stood with a half-a-dozen classmates on the corner of Albany Avenue and Bergen Street outside P-Tech.


“Who else can say that?” he asked, displaying gleaming, blue-and-gray leather boat shoes. “What other students can say, ‘He came to our school.’”


It was roughly three hours before Mr. Obama came to make his pitch, from a lectern in the gymnasium. But Mr. Gall and his fellow 11th-graders, among the lucky students picked to meet the president in a math class, were recounting their preparation drills.


Radcliffe Saddler, 16, was assigned to introduce the president. (He had a haircut for the occasion.) Leslieanne John, 16, chosen to sing the national anthem, was reciting her mother’s advice: “Set your eyes on one point and don’t mess up the words.”


Spencer Jones, 15, still wondered what to say to Mr. Obama.


“Something like, he should make more schools like ours,” he said.





Yahoo Local News – New York Times




http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=16380

via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info

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