President Barack Obama’s seventh and final State of the Union address Tuesday night focused on the broad future of the United States rather than the typical detailed description of plans for the year to come. But he still has plenty of ideas for 2016. Here are a few that are especially important to note for students our age:

1.) Schools need to focus on topics and subjects that will help students succeed in a technology-oriented society.

President Obama proposes helping students learn to write computer code and “offering every student the hands-on science and math classes that make them job-ready” by expanding on the bipartisan reform of No Child Left Behind.

The number of STEM-related job openings has skyrocketed over the past few decades, and President Obama’s proposal will help make sure that all students have access to the proper education so they can succeed in these growing fields of work.

2.) Every American should be able to afford a college education.

Last year, President Obama proposed a reform to make two years of community college free for every American. He did not achieve this goal, but did make some progress in making college less of a financial burden.

“We’ve already reduced student loan payments to ten percent of a borrower’s income,” he said. “Now, we’ve actually got to cut the cost of college.”

President Obama will do this by continuing to fight to get congressional support for making two years of community college free for every American.

According to PBS, nearly 40 percent of working-age adults have college degrees. With the rise of STEM jobs that require higher education, President Obama’s plans to increase technology education paired with two years of free higher education could further raise this number.

3.) Kids (and adults) should be safe from gun violence.

Another proposal that President Obama listed was “protecting our kids from gun violence.”

According to the New York Times, in 2015, there were more days with mass shootings (where four or more people are killed) than days without mass shootings in the United States. Even more startling is that 2015 had at least 47 confirmed school shootings, according to ABC News.

Obama took one step towards achieving gun-control goals on January 5 by announcing plans for executive action that include new requirements for background checks.

4.) 2014 was the hottest year on record. Until we got to 2015.

President Obama discussed an alarming trend of increasing global temperatures during his speech. After listing the environmental implications of climate change, President Obama also pointed out an economic opportunity in trying to remedy climate change.

“Why would we want to pass up the chance for American businesses to produce and sell the energy of the future?” President Obama asked.

He proposes changing the way that we manage our coal and oil resources to transition away from fossils fuels and invest more in clean energy.

President Obama has overseen real environmental change during his two terms in office, such as cutting carbon pollution more than any other country on Earth and cutting foreign oil imports by almost 60 percent.

5.) There is no place for discrimination based on religion or race in politics.

President Obama boldly said that this type of discrimination “betrays who were are as a country.”

He noted that diversity and tolerance is part of what makes the United States so strong and globally respected.

President Obama also indirectly confronted Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump when he mentioned that it is unacceptable for politicians to insult Muslims.

Just like the environment of tolerance that we take pride in and work hard to uphold here at Whitman, President Obama expects the same for all politicians that are supposed to be working to protect the rights of citizens, not dispute them.