Competition from Indians, Chinese helping Americans to become smarter: Obama

Global competition is churning out a smarter generation of Americans and young Americans can match or even better in anything that they do vis-à-vis young people from India or China, US President Barack Obama has said.

Obama said he was confident that young Americans are capable of competing with the rest of the world for good jobs.

"You guys are all coming up in an age where you're not going to be able to compete with people across town for good jobs -- you're going to be competing with the rest of the world. Young people in India and China, they're all interested in trying to figure out how they get a foothold in this world economy," Obama said while addressing students in Maryland on Monday.

"That's who you're competing against. Now, I'm confident you can match or exceed anything they do, but we don't do it by just resting on what we've done before. We've got to out-work and out-innovate and out-hustle everybody else. We've got to think about new ways of doing things," said the US President.

Obama said he wants every student in America to have a chance to face competition and enhance his or her capabilities.

"You're also going to be leading this country. That's the chance that this country gave to me and Michelle. And that's the chance I want for every single one of you," he said.

"From preschool for every four-year-old in America, to higher education for everybody who wants to go, every young person deserves a fair shot. I'm going to keep on doing everything I can to make sure you get that shot and to keep America a place where you can make it if you try," he said.

Obama also announced plans to launch a new competition, backed by America's Departments of Education and Labour, to start redesigning some of the country's high schools.

"We call it Youth Career Connect. And we're offering $100 million in new grants to help schools and local partners develop and test new curricula and models for success. We want to invest in your future," he said.