Rhetoric Versus Reality: What State of the Union Speeches Show Us About Presidential Education Policy

• In Event: Historical Perspectives on Policy in Practice

Abstract

While prior literature exists on United States Presidents’ use of their State of the Union (SOTU) speeches, little has been written on how the speech relates to national education policy. This paper explores how the rhetoric of past presidential SOTU speeches reflects national educational priorities. Theory-driven closed and open coding was used to analyze all presidential SOTU speeches since 1960. Preliminary findings indicate a clear emphasis on education priorities, an attempt to use the speech for bipartisanship in education policy making, and an emphasis or de-emphasis on globalism versus nationalism.

Authors

• Eva Chiang, George W. Bush Institute and Southern Methodist University

• Sumei Wu, Southern Methodist University

• Jennifer Elizabeth Stewart, Southern Methodist University

• Kristi Baker, Southern Methodist University

• Carlin Conner, Southern Methodist University

• Geoffrey Ngetich Chelule, Southern Methodist University