Barack Obama touts innovative Brooklyn high school

President Barack Obama on Friday called on Congress to increase investments in hi-tech education initiatives, like the Brooklyn high school from where he spoke.

'The question can't just be how much more we can cut,' said Obama, who was joined by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Democratic mayoral nominee Bill de Blasio at the Pathways in Technology Early College High School, known as P-TECH.

'It should be how many more schools like P-TECH we can create.'

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In visiting the two-year-old high school, Obama revisited a theme of his State of the Union address earlier this year.

Then, he cited the marriage of city public schools, City University of New York and IBM that has allowed hundreds of P-TECH students to simultaneously graduate with high school diplomas and associate degrees in computers or engineering -- putting them in a better position to quickly get well-paying jobs.

About 100 students were enrolled in the school's inaugural class that began in September 2011. Officials expect that to grow to between 400 and 450 students by next fall.

'We need to give every American student opportunities like this,' Obama had said in his State of the Union address.

On Friday, Obama said Cuomo is attempting to replicate the P-TECH model at schools around the state, and that other cities, such as Chicago, were following the same blueprint. Companies including Verizon and Microsoft also are considering similar public school collaborations, the president said.

'This is a ticket into the middle class, and it's available to everyone who is willing to work for it,' Obama told the crowd of about 600 people that gathered on campus. 'That's what public education is supposed to do.'

Obama said the federal government is working to connect 99 percent of American students to high-speed Internet at their schools within the next five years. But he said Congress needed to work with him to fund other educational investments.

Once again, Obama pitched closing corporate tax 'loopholes' to raise the needed revenue. He said other countries were gaining ground in the competition to produce the educated workforce necessary for today's global economy.

'If you think education's expensive, wait until you see how much ignorance costs,' Obama said, referencing the recent government shutdown, which he said took billions of dollars from the economy. 'Don't tell me we can afford to shut down the government and we can't afford to invest in our education systems.'

In his 23-minute address, Obama also urged Congress to invest in more scientific research, roads and infrastructure, which he said would help create more middle class jobs.

He closed his speech by suggesting that Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who was in attendance, should 'arrange tours for his colleagues' at P-TECH.

'Come to Brooklyn to meet some of these young people,' the president said.

Earlier, he quipped that the borough, where he once resided, had exploded in popularity and vitality in the ensuing decades after he departed.

'When I was living here, Brooklyn was cool -- but not this cool,' he said.

The president will spend Friday evening in Manhattan, speaking first at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser and then attending a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.

-- With Emily Ngo

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