Barack Obama’s comprehensive and ambitious plans to reform the U.S. education system have been attributed to his experiences in law school and as a community organizer.
In Mr Obama’s campaign, he states he will rewrite the federal law to offer more help to high-need schools, as well as expanding early childhood education as opposed to providing more remedial classes for older students, the New York Times reports.
This is thought to be due to him witnessing a shortage of textbooks and teachers while working as a community organizer in Chicago in the mid-1980s.
After graduating from Columbia University, he decided to take this role on Chicago’s far south side, focusing on the development of black city neighborhoods.
He also took classes on school issues when he attended Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1991.
Mr Obama’s former teacher Christopher Edley said: “Barack became committed to the notion that progress in school reform can’t come through volunteerism and professional aspiration alone.”
He added that Mr Obama became aware while at law school that reform must be achieved through a regulatory structure that tackles failure.