Hello out there, the disinterested cynic her, today we will examine the American education system, discuss what is wrong with it, and examine what both parties suggest as solutions to reform it. First off lets discuss what is wrong with the education system. The chief problem is that more than forty percent of students in America cannot even graduate high school, according to recent commercials and information released by the Department of Education, and this means that nearly half of America’s potential work force is -to be frank- too damn stupid to get a job. Standardized college admission scores are also at all time lows and this means that our high schoolers are finding it more and more difficult to get into college which is the gateway to good paying jobs with good benefits which they will need to provide for their families and prepare for the onslaught of old age. The object failure of our nation’s education system means that the jobs of tomorrow -that Senator McCain talks about- will be limited to burger flipping at McDonalds; cashiering, sales, and stocking at Wal-Mart and Target; customer service operators; ; and grease monkey at Jiffy Lube. While Americans are taking the jobs of tommorow such as Wal-Mart and McDonalds; other nations such as China, India, Russia, the EU, Japan, and South Korea will assume leadership in scientific research, high technology, and engineering and America will be left behind and will become a third world state.
A major part of the problem in the American education system is George Bush’s colossal blunder in initiating the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND program which stymied and canceled any room for maneuver and innovation in teaching methods on a local level as education became nationalized. Did NCLB raise standards? Yes, but it also curbed teachers’ abilities to treat each child on a one on one basis and did far more harm than help. Apart from NCLB, a long standing problem with the American education system is that instead of teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic, history, and science, students are being taught self esteem. Another problem with the American education establishment is the cost of college tuition. Yes, there are programs such as the Perkins loan, Stafford Loan, and PLUS loan, as well as Pell Grants but often these are inadequate to help students fund their college educations.
Now that we have examined what is wrong with the American education system lets discuss what Obama and McCain plan on doing to remedy the problems. McCain will be in red, Obama will be in blue, and my analysis will be in black(all information below, other than my analysis will be from Barackobama.com and Johnmccain.com)
NCLB Reform:
McCain Will Build On The Lessons Of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). There should be an emphasis on standards and accountability. However, our goal cannot be group averages. Instead, our focus should be to inspire every child to strive to reach his or her potential. While NCLB has been invaluable in providing a clear picture of which schools and students are struggling, it is only the beginning of education reform.
Reform No Child Left Behind: Obama will reform NCLB, which starts by funding the law. Obama believes teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. He will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama will also improve NCLB’s accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.
Bottom Line: McCain does not see much of a problem with continuing NCLB and therefore will not do too much to rectify the damage it has caused. Obama is interested in reforming it, and wants to return kids from bubble sheets to the 3 Rs.
Reducing the Dropout Rate:
Author’s Comment: There is nothing, absolutely nothing in the McCain platform about reducing the alarming number of high school students who are unable to finish high school successfully
Address the Dropout Crisis: Obama will address the dropout crisis by passing his legislation to provide funding to school districts to invest in intervention strategies in middle school – strategies such as personal academic plans, teaching teams, parent involvement, mentoring, intensive reading and math instruction, and extended learning time.
Bottom Line: Obama appears to want to actually do something about the problem, but McCain nowhere states that he is even aware of the issue
Closing the Gap With Other Western Nations in Math and Science Education:
John McCain Will Allocate $250 Million Through A Competitive Grant Program To Support States That Commit To Expanding Online Education Opportunities. States can use these funds to build virtual math and science academies to help expand the availability of AP Math, Science, and Computer Sciences courses, online tutoring support for students in traditional schools, and foreign language courses.
Make Math and Science Education a National Priority: Obama will recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession and will support efforts to help these teachers learn from professionals in the field. He will also work to ensure that all children have access to a strong science curriculum at all grade levels.
Bottom Line: Both see the need for closing the gap, both will work on bringing in the most qualified teachers in these fields. Both will work on making advanced placement courses in these subjects available to all high school students
Making College Affordable:
Simplify Higher Education Tax Benefits
The existing tax benefits are too complicated, and many eligible families don’t claim them. By simplifying the existing benefits, I can ensure that a greater number of families have a lower tax burden when they are helping to send their children to college.
Simplify Federal Financial Aid
Too many programs and a complicated application process deter many eligible students from seeking student aid. The number of programs also makes it more difficult for financial aid officers to help students navigate the process. Consolidating programs will help simplify the administration of these programs, and help more students have a better understanding of their eligibility for aid.
Improve Research by Eliminating Earmarks
Earmarking is destroying the integrity of federally funded research. Billions of dollars are spent on pork barrel projects every year; significant amounts come from research budgets. Eliminating earmarks would immediately and significantly improve the federal government’s support for university research.
Fix the Student Lending Programs
We have seen significant turmoil in student lending. John McCain has proposed an expansion of the lender-of-last resort capability of the federal student loan system and will demand the highest standard of integrity for participating private lenders. Effective reforms and leveraging the private sector will ensure the necessary funding of higher education aspirations, and create a simpler and more effective program in the process.
It also means putting a college education within reach of every American. That’s the best investment we can make in our future. I’ll create a new and fully refundable tax credit worth $4,000 for tuition and fees every year, which will cover two-thirds of the tuition at the average public college or university. I’ll also simplify the financial aid application process so that we don’t have a million students who aren’t applying for aid because it’s too difficult. I will start by eliminating the current student aid form altogether – we’ll use tax data instead.
And I’ll tap the tremendous resource of community colleges, which educate half the undergraduates in this country, by creating a new Community College Partnership Program. We’ll help schools determine what skills and technical education are needed to help local industry; we’ll expand new degrees for emerging fields; and we’ll reward schools that graduate more students. That’s the change we need so that our young people can achieve their dreams.
Bottom Line:
Both will simplify the FAFSA application, both will regulate lendors and simplify the process. Actually on this issues there is little difference, at least superficially between the candidates.
Next week the topic is protecting civil liberties.
