Obama pushes the value of teachers, education in weekly address

There's nothing more important to our country's future than the education we give our kids. And there's no one more important to that education than the person at the front of the classroom.

Teachers matter.  Most work tirelessly, with modest pay, sometimes digging into their own pocket for school supplies ' just to make a difference.  They give everything for our kids ' and in return, we should invest in them.

It was all love for teachers in this morning's weekly address, in which President Barack Obama discussed his travels across the country, the importance of education and the vital role that teachers play in shaping the future of our country.

He pointed to the toll that the sagging economy and state and local budget cuts have taken on the rank and file of educators across the country. Since 2009, he said, more than 300,000 education jobs have been lost. And that, he told listeners, has serious consequences:

Think about what that means for our country.  At a time when the rest of the world is racing to out-educate America; these cuts force our kids into crowded classrooms, cancel programs for preschoolers and kindergarteners, and shorten the school week and the school year.

That's the opposite of what we should be doing as a country.  States should be making education a priority in their budgets, even in tough fiscal times.  And Congress should be willing to help out ' because this affects all of us.

The president cited his jobs bill, which the Republican-led Congress killed this past September, as his attempt at a solution.  But it's more than just not passing his proposed bill that hurt education, it's the whole Republican economic worldview, manifest in their love of slashing budgets:

In fact, the economic plan that almost every Republican in Congress voted for would make the situation even worse.  It would actually cut funding for education ' which means fewer kids in Head Start, fewer teachers in our classrooms, and fewer college students with access to financial aid ' all to pay for a massive new tax cut for millionaires and billionaires.

That's backwards.  That's wrong.  That plan doesn't invest in our future; it undercuts our future.

He pointed to his administrations student loan reform and advocacy for more student financial aid as a step in the right direction, "because," he said,  in America, higher education cannot be a luxury; it's an economic necessity every family should be able to afford." He closed with a flourish, tying his own personal story to that of America, its children and the future:

This is a country where no matter what you look like or where you come from, if you're willing to study and work hard, you can go as far as your talents will take you.  You can make it if you try.  I am only the President of the United States today because of the chance my education gave me.  I want every child in America to have that chance.

To read the transcript in full, check below the fold or visit the White House website.