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| President Obama (the White House, 2011) |
Now, I'm sure many of us know that the Americans are allowed to vote for the leader of their country. In the last election Barack Obama won, which was a major victory for many Americans, and a great defeat for many as well. Before Obama George W. Bush was in office for two terms, much to the disdain of Americans, and the world. I like to say that Stephen Harper is the Canadian George Bush, but that's for another time. I actually don't know enough about Bush to really criticize him, and since he is no longer President I have no need to. Instead I'll focus on Obama. A question I find myself asking again and again is, "What has Obama actually done?" I think that many people invested so much belief in him and truly hoped he would be one of the best President's America has ever seen, but to be honest, I think he has fallen short of many peoples expectations. However something that he recently did that has changed the world, and made many people believe in him again (if they ever stopped) was helping to find Osama Bin Laden. A great victory yes, but enough to call him a great President? Maybe not. While looking for articles that would point me to what he has done I came across many websites devoted entirely to looking at what he has NOT accomplished. It was actually difficult to find a website that outlined what he has done, a reliable website at least. I did find a few that listed what he has accomplished and I have to say that the list is quite impressive, I encourage those of you reading this to go take a look at it. Something that I found impressive is that through the Recovery Act he was able to save 300,000 education jobs that would have otherwise been lost during the recession (The Best Article Everyday, 2011). As anyone reading this blog will know, I really support a good education and I applaud Obama for this. In my opinion, one of the greatest things Obama has accomplished is the health care reform. Now, he didn't do that by himself, the U.S. House of Representatives had to pass it, but as Obama was President at the time it passed he is obviously going to get a lot of credit. He did support it however, and it was his signature that was needed for it to fully pass. This health care bill will provide coverage for 30 million uninsured Americans (amazing) and it will also end the discrimination by insurance companies against people who have existing medical conditions (CBC News, March 22, 2010). I know there are naysayers out there who don't support this health care bill, just read the comments on the article and you'll find them. I think they are most bothered by the fact that taxes will increase, but in my opinion, I would be happy to have my taxes increase if it meant that 30 million people would get health care insurance. All I can say right now though, is that I'm happy I live in Canada.
I believe that part of the reason people (including me) are asking "what has Obama done?" is because it is not heavily publicized. It even took me awhile to find a legitimate article on the historic health care bill.
Obama signs the health care bill
What I've been hearing about the American education system as of late is that it is heading downhill, and I can understand that, but I also think that when people say that they are only looking at a small part of the American education system. American is a very populated country with many poor regions; since schools in these poorer regions generally receive less funding the quality of education is not generally as good. There are exceptions of course! Also, there are things being done right in the education system. For example, only a hundred years ago there were eight and half percent of seventeen year olds who had a high school degree, and a shocking two percent of twenty three year olds had a college degree. Two percent! That's nothing. However now there are about 50 million Americans (1/6 of the population) enrolled in public school. There are also 20 million more who are enrolled in higher education, or are faculty at a centre of higher learning (The New Yorker, September 27, 2010). These numbers are impressive but we also have to look at the fact that more people are in school because the population is growing, non the less for an education system that some have said is failing, I think it's doing alright. There are definitely some improvements that could be made, and I'm sure that with the recession it has been harder for public schools (which many families rely on) to receive funding.
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| Gender Statistics (USA Today, September 26, 2008) |
While the United States is much more advanced in gender equality than other countries they also have some work to do. I feel that we can relate their viewpoint on gender equality to Canada's, we both support it, but inequality still exists. Stereotypes still exist in peoples minds about the types of jobs that women and men should hold, as women in the U.S. are still preferred for jobs such as elementary school teacher and banker. Men on the other hand are favoured in jobs such as surgeon, or airline pilot (USA Today, September 26, 2008). I believe that these stereotypes are always going to be around, however it is important to overlook them when hiring people. For example, lets say both a man and woman are applying for a job as a surgeon. The woman has far more credentials and is much more experienced and educated than the man, but since the person hiring them has the stereotype in their mind that women should not be performing a job like this they hire the man. It just doesn't seem fair does it? I do think that the gender gap is getting narrower in the U.S. though, and so does Times magazine. Based on research done by Harvard and the University of California-Berkley the U.S. ranks number #27 out of 130 countries in gender equality (Time, November 12, 2008). The U.S. was actually ranked better than Canada, which went from #18 in 2007 to #31. Way to go Canada, what with that and re-electing Harper I have to say I'm so proud to be Canadian (please note the sarcasm). So while I do think the U.S. can certainly improve its gender gap I also think that they are doing pretty well. Women make up a large portion of the work force and are protected under the law, which is quite different from some of the less developed countries I've been studying.
Overall, for a country that people make fun of all the time I believe the U.S. is doing pretty well. Yes they can make some improvements in their education system, but once they are fully recovered from the recession they will probably see a lot of improvements being made. They should also work to keep narrowing their gender gap to reach their full potential. If I lived in the U.S. I would have much more to say about this I'm sure, but since I only have the Internet as my guide I hope you have found this informative!
