Monique Verdin, "Headwaters : Tamaracks + Time : Lake Itasca" (2019), digital assemblage. Photograph taken in 2019; United States War Department map of the route passed over by an expedition into the Indian country in 1832 to the source of the Mississippi River.

Bill Clinton on education and opportunity

January 30, 2015

Former President Bill Clinton gave the keynote address at a Brookings Hamilton Project conference on “Addressing America’s Poverty Crisis.” Clinton’s remarks followed several panel discussions of apprenticeships and other ways of training high-skill workers. Panelists included Harry Holzer and Robert Lerman, who have written about this topic in Issues.

Clinton emphasized the need for policies such as income-contingent student loan repayment, lower tuition, and retention programs  that enable low-income people to afford and finish a quality education. He also recommended that we eliminate the misleading distinction between education that develops workplace skills and academic knowledge.