Bringing education-related news and trends to the forefront of the conversation.

Today is President Barack Obama’s 50th birthday, and he’ll be celebrating it like a political candidate coming up on an election year- with a fundraising party located in Chicago in his honor.

Not only is Mr. Obama the 44^th President of the United States, but he’s also the first black president of our history. But it wasn’t an easy road leading to the presidency.

The President has overcome a lot in his life. Not only is he the first African-American President of the US, but he was also the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, a student-run organization whose purpose is to publish a journal of legal scholarship. So let’s just say he has a lot to celebrate other than having 50 very successful years of life under his belt!

Studying pre-law and attending law school is essential to becoming a lawyer or having a career in anything that has to do with politics. Ever think that you would like to be the next president of the United States? If you have an interest in law topics, check out our legal and paralegal programs at UniversityDecisions.com! You could become a paralegal, court reporter, or legal secretary!

Thousands of angry protesters filled the Wisconsin State Capitol Building for the past two days in protest of Governor Scott Walker’s proposed bill on collective bargaining. The proposed bill would force public employees, including public university professors, to pay more for their pension and health care benefits and would limit their collective bargaining power. The Wisconsin State Senate was supposed to put the bill to a vote today amidst the crowds of protesters, but none of the Democrats showed up. Although Republicans do hold the majority in the Wisconsin state Senate, at least one Democrat must be present to hold a vote.  Democratic Minority Leader Mark Miller released a statement urging Walker and the Republicans to compromise with them on the issue but did not say where the Democrats had disappeared to or when they would return to Madison.

The outcome of the vote on this bill could have a major impact nationwide as Wisconsin is one of the first states to address changes on benefits, pay and collective bargaining power for public university professors. Ohio will be voting next on a similar bill and Iowa, New Mexico, Arizona and New Jersey are rumored to be considering similar changes. Key changes in the Wisconsin bill include:

• limited control for unions on hiring and firing rules
• union workers would need to pay 12.5% of their health costs
• workers would be responsible for paying half of retirement (5.8% of their pay)

Governor Walker believes that these changes are necessary for Wisconsin to function better and argues the bill would save Wisonsin more than 10 million dollars per month. Ohio is looking at even bigger changes setting the health care cost to be at minimum 20%. It would also end the practice of layoffs based only on seniority, letting merit and other factors play a role reports USA Today.

Opponents of the bill came out in droves to protest and say that it is an attack on teachers unions. “Teachers unions, historically one of the most powerful interest groups in American politics, are being besieged like never before – under attack from conservative GOP governors with a zeal for budget-cutting…” reports the Milwaukee Wisconsin Sentinel Journal. Dozens of public schools in Wisconsin cancelled school as their teachers called in sick to join the protests. Madison schools, the state’s second-largest district with 24,000 students, closed for a second day as teachers poured into the Capitol (Los Angeles Times).

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Teaching Assistants’ Association (TAA) asked for all activity to cease on campus today for the university to stand united against the proposed bill. “While students haven’t been the source of this protest, they have definitely been the soul of this protest,” TAA Co-president Alex Hanna told The Nation. “Students of all ages have shown up. They’ve stayed up late on little sleep—they are really working the night shift to keep this movement going.”

We here at UniversityDecisions.com support higher education and know that teachers and educators are critically important to the success and growth of the education industry. Without them there wouldn’t be opportunities for people to earn their degree or change careers and go back to school. Being an educator isn’t just a job- it’s a calling. We will always need their passion to drive others to achieve their dreams.  Whether you dream to be a nurse, electrical engineer or fashion designer- education is the key to getting there and being successful.

President Barack Obama has challenged us all, as citizens of this great country, to win the future. During Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, he stood before Congress and the millions of Americans watching from home and spoke to everyone about education. The education we need; the education we can achieve; the education we must have to be a top nation of innovators and thinkers.

“The future is ours to win,” Obama said. “But to get there, we can’t just stand still. As Robert Kennedy told us, ‘The future is not a gift. It is an achievement.’ Sustaining the American Dream has never been about standing pat. It has required each generation to sacrifice, and struggle, and meet the demands of a new age.”

Education is the key.

“Many people watching tonight can probably remember a time when finding a good job meant showing up at a nearby factory or a business downtown,” Obama said. “You didn’t always need a degree, and your competition was pretty much limited to your neighbors. If you worked hard, chances are you’d have a job for life, with a decent paycheck and good benefits and the occasional promotion. Maybe you’d even have the pride of seeing your kids work at the same company.”

But that world has changed. Jobs have disappeared. America has fallen from the top. We now need college-educated men and women with a greater knowledge of math and science. We needs experts in renewable energy, become a teacher. Your country needs you.

Obama’s challenge is this: For every American to finish high school, earn a college degree and help America win the future!

“Over the next ten years, nearly half of all new jobs will require education that goes beyond a high school education. And yet, as many as a quarter of our students aren’t even finishing high school. The quality of our math and science education lags behind many other nations. America has fallen to ninth in the proportion of young people with a college degree.”

“If we take these steps — if we raise expectations for every child, and give them the best possible chance at an education, from the day they are born until the last job they take — we will reach the goal that I set two years ago: By the end of the decade, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.”

To learn more about how YOU can win the future by earning a college degree, visit UniversityDecisions.com.

Video courtesy of YouTube.com.