Building a 21st Century Education

By Ro Khanna

I owe my success today to the fact that I was able to attend fantastic schools + both public and private. But I'm still paying off my student debt, and I know firsthand that affordable higher education is essential to giving hardworking students the opportunity at a fulfilling career with economic security.

Unfortunately, America has fallen behind in its investments in education, and our economic competiveness has suffered. It's clear that our priorities are amiss when we have a ballooning prison population at the same time that we are firing teachers, cutting arts and physical education classes, and failing to open new libraries. Our comparative advantage to other nations has always been the productivity and ingenuity of our workers. But today's global economy is profoundly different from the economy of 10 or 20 years ago. We have lost sight of the most important factor that makes our economy thrive: the knowledge, ideas, and skills of our people.

As a Member of Congress, I will fight to return our focus to making college affordable and preparing students for the jobs of the 21st century. When new technology or outsourcing displace workers' jobs, I'll help ensure that they have access to retraining programs that enable them to quickly re-enter the workforce in industries where secure employment is available.

For more on where I stand on education, please check out: http://www.rokhanna.com/education.