OP-ed: The Election Choice: Education

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-17-2008
OP-ed: The Election Choice: Education
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Thu, 10-30-2008 - 5:12am
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The Election Choice: Education
Obama says schools need more money, McCain wants more accountability.



  • Though education has not figured prominently in the campaign, John McCain and Barack Obama have their proposals. Each falls squarely within their respective party's established political framework: Boiled down, Mr. Obama believes that schools require more resources and federal support, while Mr. McCain wants to introduce to the education system more choice and accountability.






School choice. Mr. McCain would pursue education reforms that institute equality of choice in the K-12 system. He would allow parents whose kids are locked into failing public schools to opt out, whether in favor of another public school, a charter school or through voucher or scholarship programs for private options. Parents, he believes, ought to have more control over their education dollars. Teachers' unions and school administrators find none of this amenable.

Mr. McCain supports merit pay for teachers and would establish a bonus program for high-performing educators, as well as devote more funds toward attracting successful college graduates into the field. He would also give principals more control over their schools, including spending decisions, instead of district school boards.


Teachers. Mr. Obama prefers that students stay within the current system, though he acknowledges its many problems. A mainstay of his campaign is his promise to completely underwrite training costs in teacher preparation. He also supports continuing education and mentoring programs for current teachers. So that there is a "guarantee of quality," he backs mandatory professional accrediting for educators and proposes a "career ladder initiative" to reform teacher compensation and tenure to recognize expertise. During a recent speech to the American Federation of Teachers, Mr. Obama disparaged "tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice."


No Child Left Behind. The 2001 legislation that introduced national performance standards and accountability to the schools remains a political live wire, particularly in regard to weak enforcement by the Department of Education. Mr. McCain has offered few specific reforms but generally supports the law's broad contours as a good start. Many of Mr. Obama's reform ideas would result in essentially suspending the law's accountability provisions, though not the Washington funding, which he says he would increase.


Early childhood education. Mr. Obama supports a universal preschool policy and says that his "zero-to-five" early education agenda "begins at birth." He would increase federal outlays for universal preschool education by $10 billion annually, handing the states block grants devoted to infants and toddlers. Mr. Obama also wants to expand eligibility for Head Start, the four-decade-old federal preschool program for low-income kids.


Mr. McCain believes there is already a profusion of federal programs devoted to early child care and preschool, including Head Start and its many offshoots. He would try to better coordinate the programs and focus them on outcomes to reduce waste. To reward success, Mr. McCain wants to establish "centers of excellence," which would receive more Head Start funding and serve as models for underperforming institutions.


Public service. Though both candidates call on listeners to devote themselves to "causes greater than self-interest," Mr. Obama would see to it that they do, with a plan for "universal voluntary citizen service." In addition to doubling the size of the Peace Corps, he would create a Classroom Corps, a Health Corps, a Homeland Security Corps and a Clean Energy Corps, plus a Green Jobs Corps. Mr. Obama proposes a fully refundable tax credit of $4,000 for college students who complete 100 hours of community service a year ($40 an hour). He would make federal education aid conditional on high schools requiring students to perform 50 hours of service a year.


Higher education. Mr. Obama suggests expanding federal student aid programs, including Pell Grants, and says he will streamline college tax benefits, which are so complicated many students and families don't end up claiming them. Mr. McCain likes the tax simplification part. He also believes that earmarks have compromised the integrity of government-financed research at the nation's universities and promises to eliminate them (the earmarks, not the universities).


-- By Joseph Rago


http://online.wsj.com/article

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Fri, 10-31-2008 - 10:51am
When it comes to public involvement our government has been involved for years, starting when they first passed a mandate that said children must be educated. Note the law says children, not adults. Why should the government pay for non-mandated school attendance by adults?
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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-30-2008
Fri, 10-31-2008 - 10:53am
Urrrrr, maybe because some adults can't afford it without help.
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Fri, 10-31-2008 - 10:55am
Then my local university is practicing false advertising,as it claims to be public but says I've got to fork over a passle of money to do a class.
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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Fri, 10-31-2008 - 10:59am
Hmmmm .... I can't afford a new car. Should the government have to help me with that purchase? Answer is no it shouldn't, as it is not a law that says all citizens must have new cars. Same with college attendance. Why should adults recieve vouchers for non-mandatory education?
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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-31-2008 - 11:03am
I specified what I meant by "public" in this context. As far as I know there are no public, free colleges in the US. The only free college that I know of is the Cooper-Union in NYC, but it is not public, just free.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-31-2008 - 11:05am
Because education is mandated, schools are provided where you kids may be educated for free. If you do not like those schools you are free to fulfill the mandate in some other way, of your choosing and on your dime.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-30-2008
Fri, 10-31-2008 - 11:07am
I am surprised you would even attend a government entity for college and not pick private funded one.
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Fri, 10-31-2008 - 11:08am
While opening up public schools sounds good to me I do not believe a law doing so would stand up to a Constitutional challenge. If the Feds mandated it it would be seen as too much involvement in a state matter (education is largely a local and state matter.) Heck, they can not even use one standard achievement test for NCLB monitoring. I don't know how much riff-raff those schools would actually get .... the vouchers most likely wouldn't cover all the tuition so parents would have to be willing to make up the difference in the per pupil cost in the upscale neighborhood.
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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Fri, 10-31-2008 - 11:10am
Kids are educated for free? Please point me to which law says this, as I've big plans for the money I will get back in property taxes.
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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-30-2008
Fri, 10-31-2008 - 11:12am

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Just a hunch, some people think education is not a convenience.