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Educational Needs and the Presidential Campaign | |
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THE CONSERVATIVE REVIEW
March 28, 2008
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Educational Needs and the Presidential Campaign
By Paul Weyrich
Throughout this prolonged presidential campaign the three
main candidates - Senators John S. McCain III (R-AZ),
Barack H. Obama (D-IL), and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)
- have spent most of their time arguing about the war in
Iraq, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
the housing crisis, the economy and healthcare. Oh yes,
and change of one sort or another, although the specifics
of their calls for change are difficult to discern.
Change for its own sake is not necessarily a positive
idea, and once we reach the general election campaign,
McCain and the Democratic nominee will have to provide
more details about what he or she wants to change and
why. Of course, details do not provide good soundbytes
for the nightly news, whereas "change" does, but educated
voters will want to know what they should expect for the
next four years.
One of the issues the candidates have not discussed is
education. What is the role of the Federal Government in
education and what do they propose to do about the abysmal
public schools in America? These questions and more for
the most part have remained unanswered in their speeches.
A quick perusal of their campaign websites, however,
gives some revealing answers about their positions on
education.
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McCain, the Republican nominee, begins by stating that he
"understands that we are a nation committed to equal
opportunity, and there is no equal opportunity without
equal access to excellent education." Fair enough. He
proceeds to note that parents should be able to choose the
school their children attend, criticizing Members of Con-
gress who send their own children to private schools but
refuse to support school choice for others. Then he uses
another "c" word - "we should let [schools] compete for
the most effective, character-building teachers, hire
them, and reward them." Choice and competition, two very
effective tools for reforming our schools. I would add a
third "c" to that list - curriculum - but, as education
should be a local issue, curriculum must be reformed at
the state or district level.
Finally, McCain claims that he will "pursue reforms
that address the underlying cultural problems in our
education system - a system that still seeks to avoid
genuine accountability and responsibility for
producing well-educated children." What these cultural
problems are he does not say. Most likely they would
begin with the stranglehold teachers' unions have over
the education system, stifling any dissent from
or attempt to change the status quo. There is also the
problem of family structure and support in many working-
class families but the President of the United States
cannot impose a top-down change in the nuclear family.
The family is the building block of American society, not
another social group to be manipulated by bureaucrats and
politicians (though some certainly are trying).
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Clinton is more precise in her education proposal. She
begins by explaining her previous work with children,
including a stint as a staff attorney for the Children's
Defense Fund and various posts in Arkansas before her
sojourn as First Lady. Her current education proposal
outlines new policies for each stage of education,
beginning with early childhood. She wants prekindergarten
for all four-year olds and nurse home visitations to help
new parents develop parenting skills. The former would do
nothing to change the current dismal state of education
while the latter would be an expensive and invasive new
mandate.
For K-12 Clinton proposes ending No Child Left Behind
(NCLB), which is not a bad idea. She also wants to
"recruit and retain thousands more outstanding teachers
and principals, especially in urban and rural areas" and
"cut the minority drop-out rate in half," although her
solution is to throw $1 billion more at them, providing
"multiple pathways to graduation," whatever that means.
My favorite, though, is her goal of creating "'Green
Schools' in order to reduce energy costs and eliminate
environmental hazards that can hinder children's
development." What more do I need to say. Education
problem solved right there!
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Obama's layout is similar to Clinton's but begins by
listing the five problems with American education as he
sees them. They are NCLB's lack of funding, America's
low scores in reading and math, the high dropout rate,
teacher retention and soaring college costs. To alleviate
these problems, Obama wants to expand Head Start, help
states move to voluntary, universal pre-school; fund NCLB;
make math and science a national priority (while not
mentioning history or English); and create and fund various
other programs geared specifically toward poor and minority
students.
All three candidates fail to address properly the problems
in American education. McCain is on the right track by
emphasizing competition and choice but he lacks specific
proposals. Clinton and Obama both want public education
at an earlier age, which is unlikely to solve our problems,
and to throw more money at a broken system instead of doing
the really difficult task of repairing the system and
cleaning out those who want no change, no choice, no
competition.
What these candidates should offer is a return to local
control, an emphasis upon improved and more rigorous
curricula, school choice and competition, and a signifi-
cant reduction in the power of teachers' unions. These
would begin the process of improvement that we desperately
need and make education more flexible and responsive to
peoples needs. And that is real change we could believe
in.
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End of CONSERVATIVE REVIEW
Copyright 2008 by NextEra Media. All rights reserved.
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