It’s not quite the glee club or football championship.
U.S. high schools will flex their competitive muscles this spring for a different sort of prize — President Barack Obama as speaker at this spring’s graduation ceremony. But to catch that particular brass ring, they will have to show not how well their students can sing or tackle, but make the case for how dedicated they are to providing an excellent education.
The White House announced its ”Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge” on Friday, which it says “encourages schools to show how they are making great strides on personal responsibility, academic excellence and college readiness.”
To compete, applications — consisting of four essay questions with a video and other data optional — should be completed by students and submitted by a high school’s principal to www.WhiteHouse.gov/Commencement no later than Monday, March 15 at 11:59 p.m. EST. The White House and Department of Education will select six finalists from among schools that make the deadline. Those six will then be featured on the White House website, where the public will be able to vote for three schools that make the best case. Obama himself will select a national winner, and visit the school to deliver the commencement address to the Class of 2010.
The United States has one of the worst high school dropout rates in the industrialized world and its students often rank below those in other Western nations in reading and math. Obama has pledged billions of dollars for education in his “Race to the Top” initiative, included in his $787 billion economic stimulus plan last year. States are competing for that funding, but, given that it does involve politics in which education is a favorite, er, football, some state officials have expressed wariness about the increasing involvement of the federal government in the past decade into curriculum and school reforms. Local officials contend that they know better what is good for their students than officials far away in Washington.
Photo credit: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during the commencement ceremony at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona May 13, 2009. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
