Posted on 05/20/2008 10:36:30 AM PDT by Bob J
Excellence, Choice, and Competition in American Education
John McCain believes American education must be worthy of the promise we make to our children and ourselves. He understands that we are a nation committed to equal opportunity, and there is no equal opportunity without equal access to excellent education.
Public education should be defined as one in which our public support for a child's education follows that child into the school the parent chooses. The school is charged with the responsibility of educating the child, and must have the resources and management authority to deliver on that responsibility. They must also report to the parents and the public on their progress.
The deplorable status of preparation for our children, particularly in comparison with the rest of the industrialized world, does not allow us the luxury of eliminating options in our educational repertoire. John McCain will fight for the ability of all students to have access to all schools of demonstrated excellence, including their own homes.
No Child Left Behind has focused our attention on the realities of how students perform against a common standard. John McCain believes that we can no longer accept low standards for some students and high standards for others. In this age of honest reporting, we finally see what is happening to students who were previously invisible. While that is progress all its own, it compels us to seek and find solutions to the dismal facts before us.
John McCain believes our schools can and should compete to be the most innovative, flexible and student-centered - not safe havens for the uninspired and unaccountable. He believes we should let them compete for the most effective, character-building teachers, hire them, and reward them.
If a school will not change, the students should be able to change schools. John McCain believes parents should be empowered with school choice to send their children to the school that can best educate them just as many members of Congress do with their own children. He finds it beyond hypocritical that many of those who would refuse to allow public school parents to choose their child's school would never agree to force their own children into a school that did not work or was unsafe. They can make another choice. John McCain believes that is a fundamental and essential right we should honor for all parents.
As president, John McCain 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.
John McCain will place parents and children at the center of the education process, empowering parents by greatly expanding the ability of parents to choose among schools for their children. He believes all federal financial support must be predicated on providing parents the ability to move their children, and the dollars associated with them, from failing schools.
Of interest to the homeschool list, just FYI.
2Jedismom made an interesting point in post 19 that I missed reading over the first time; the use of the little word *demonstrated* excellence.
I don’t like the implications myself.
>>John McCain will fight for the ability of all students to have access to all schools of demonstrated excellence, including their own homes.<<
Oooops! The dude is slipping off my Yes vote list FAST.
You wrote: Interesting.
So, maybe we should brace for more testing of HS'ed students, perhaps at the federal level?
My fear has been for quite some time that the NCLB stuff would somehow bleed over into homeschooling.
This is not promising...
Therefore, I trust him like I trust a rattle snake not to bite me...if I'm in range. The problem with that analogy is that we are ALL in range.
I fear for my country........
“Oooops! The dude is slipping off my Yes vote list FAST.”
And who is your alternate?
Jimmy Carter created the Department of Education.
Ronald Reagan wanted to abolish it.
NCLB fed it’s already bloated existence.
Sounds like McCain wants to keep feeding it and tinker with it a little.
Why is marriage a “State’s issue” in McCain’s mind, but education is not?
What’s his stance on homeschooling?
“John McCain believes our schools can and should compete to be the most innovative, flexible and student-centered “
I voted for McCain in the primary....but student-centered is a buzzword for letting kids run the show in a classroom. “Student-centered” is the parent of cooperative learning groups, self-esteem building less emphasis on rigor, every opinion is correct, multicultural education.
I just post ‘em.
According to this line, it appears he might want to legislate it at the federal level:
John McCain will fight for the ability of all students to have access to all schools of demonstrated excellence, including their own homes.
I just might not bother voting at all.
Good catch. That is frightening.
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