The outcome of the midterm elections shows how distraught voters have become with Washington politics, where almost every issue is pitched into a partisan battle between parties and competing ideologies. Fortunately, the administration has an opportunity to show leadership and demonstrate a desire for bipartisan solutions with the new Congress by focusing on President Barack Obama’s American Graduation Initiative, says Thomas Kean of Politico. This program, whose goal is to help an additional five million Americans earn college degrees and certificates in the next decade, can strengthen the U.S. higher education system in years to come.
Indeed, the president said in a recent radio address said that economic growth and creating new jobs for American workers requires “ensuring that our students are getting the best education possible.”
Such a bold objective requires consensus-building–and an all-inclusive approach. As someone with broad experience in government and all aspects of higher education–public, private, not-for-profit and for-profit–I have been disappointed in the “ad-hoc” nature of the administration’s first proposals to achieve the president’s noble vision…