Comments on: Education Reform & Republican Presidential Candidates

By: Jasen Tracy

Jasen Tracy — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:29:15 +0000

Nice write-up, more political coverage should be like this.

By: thainamu

thainamu — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 20:03:12 +0000

Sadie, very nice article. Obviously, you spent a lot of time on it and have done some good thinking.

Are you going to tell us what you would do if you were in charge of the zoo? Whoops, what I meant was, in charge of education in this country.

(Except for the inevitable law of unintended consequences,) I’d establish federal minimum standards for education, but allow people (states and individuals) lots of different ways to achieve those standards. (I’ve never really understood why it is a “good” thing to let states make lots of decisions on things that have impact way beyond their individual borders. Education is just another one of those things–children don’t always end up living in the same state where they were educated, so they may need to know something in state X that they weren’t taught in state Y.)

By: Colin

Colin — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:34:41 +0000

Why Thainamu, how Jeffersonian of you.

By: Thainamu

Thainamu — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:22:24 +0000

Would that be George Jefferson??

By: Sadie

Sadie — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 02:47:53 +0000

To Jason: Thanks!

To Thainamu: I actually plan to write up what I’d do to reform education in an article someday. Really, I need to solidify my views and do some more thorough research on the subject. Jefferson actually had some great things to say about education and I agree with some of his ideas. One of these days when I have some more free time, I’ll write that article.

By: Atanamis

Atanamis — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:33:25 +0000

Thainamu, my position is similar to yours. Single federal standard, federal “voucher” for educational expenses. You get the funding for the voucher only if you meet the goals. Some extra funding and mandatory acceptance policies for “special needs” programs. I firmly believe that giving children the opportunity to be educated is part of the responsibility of government to “protect children”, on the basis that they are legally considered unable to determine their own best interests. While ideally parents should be trusted to seek their kids interests, not all of them can. All tests regarding disputed matters should be of the form “What does the federal standard definition of XXX state about YYY?”. Kids should be expected to be familiar with common national and world religions, as well as highly disputed science (whether popular or professional).

By: Bucks

Bucks — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:50:46 +0000

This is a great rundown on the candidates’ positions on the issues! Thanks. Another site I’d recommend you check out is Fit to be President that lets readers rate the candidate personal attributes. Highly recommended!

By: Brad Jensen

Brad Jensen — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:31:12 +0000

The Brad Plan For Education (BPFE):

1. Fed educational board sets federal national goals for each subject.
2. State set’s goals to meet fed goals.
3. Individual Schools set’s goals to meet State goals.

4. Individual Schools set up programs to allow students to achieve to unlimited levels (let them, and encourage them, to go as far as possible).

5. Individual Schools along with input from kids, parents, and school board determine the classes/topics that will be taught in that school (meeting and “surpassing” Fed, State, and Individual lowest common denominator goals – what does every student need to know – meet that and then surpass it.)

5a. Classes NEED to include Health & Physical Education (get the kids knowledge about being healthy, how that will enhance there lives, and put them in PE programs that get them some exercise and off their Playstation/Xbox playing candy/donut/McDonald’s eating arses and into the healthy bodies that they should have)
5b. Other classes need to include: Science, Social Studies, Math, History, Government, Art, English, Music, Economics, Chemistry, Biology, Etc., Etc., Etc.

A Nice Simple Plan – Enact It Now – Make It So.

Cheers!

Brad Jensen