When the President of the United States entered the auditorium of Pellissippi State Community College’s Clayton Performing Arts Center on Friday afternoon, political views and opinions aside, not a soul in the room could stay seated or keep from cheering in admiration of the leader who was prepared to make a bold proposal for the future of American education.
But, as much as Tennessee is a fan of Obama, Obama is a fan of Tennessee.
“I hope you guys aren’t getting tired of me,” the president started. “I’ve been coming around a lot lately, because there’s a lot of good stuff happening here.”
After visiting the state just last month on Dec. 9, the president made his way back to Tennessee to address a room full of students and professors alike and announce his new initiative for American education, America’s College Promise.
Modeled after Gov. Bill Haslam’s own Tennessee Promise, which made Tennessee the first state in the nation to guarantee every graduating high school student free tuition for two years of community college or technical college, America’s College Promise would eliminate two years of tuition costs for students at community colleges.
This initiative would demand an increased partnership between four-year universities and community colleges to make a college education more accessible and affordable for all Americans.
“Today I’m announcing an ambitious new plan to bring down the cost of community college tuition in America; I want to bring it down to zero,” Obama said to his audience. “I want to make it free.”
Present with Obama on Friday was Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill.
Joe Biden explained at the White House education and community colleges are known as “Jill’s Territory.” As an English professor at a community college outside Washington, D.C., Jill Biden’s excitement for the possibility of free higher education was evident in her remarks Friday.
“As an educator, I am grateful and tremendously proud to work for a president and a vice president who are committed to starting the promise of an American education,” Jill Biden said. “Community colleges have entered a new day in America.”
Calling community colleges the “best kept secret in America,” Joe Biden said they are one of the swiftest avenues for becoming part of the middle-class. Since the president and Biden entered the White House in 2009, Joe said one of their primary goals has been to reestablish the footing of middle-class America to stay competitive with a global economy.
“The middle-class is the vehicle that built this great country,” Joe said. “It was built on the shoulders of hard working, middle-class people.”
Along with his announcement, the president also gave a preview to his State of the Union address dated for Jan. 20. After outlining some of the advances the nation has made since he took his seat in office, Obama explained how passing America’s College Promise was conditional based on Congress’ vote.
He stressed America’s College Promise should be a bipartisan program that doesn’t lean left or right.
“I hope that Congress will come together to support it, because opening the doors of higher education shouldn’t be a Democratic issue or a Republican issue,” he said. “This is an American issue.”
Ultimately, the president said this initiative is in sync with “the promise of America,” that everyone should be guaranteed equal opportunity, regardless of race, gender or socioeconomic class.
“That’s what America is about,” Obama said. “We can make of our lives what we will. And there are going to be bumps, and there are going to be challenges. And we’ve come through some very hard times … but we have overcome discouragement and we have overcome division and, sometimes, some discord. And we don’t give up. We get up, we fight back. We come back stronger than before.”
