Obama and the Independent School District

Propert taxes are the primary source of revenue for schools in Illinois, and school funding is the largest recipient of propery taxes.

Would the tax-payer have representation appropriate to his taxation if Obama's plan is implemented? Would states have to change their tax policies?

Many people who pay for schools, do no have children, and the local school board allows them a voice.

This is all perfectly consistent with Obama's marxist/socialist leanings. Nothing to see here...move along now.

Vote for Obama if you want the government to be your momma.

"Corridors of shame" ??
I am assuming that Obama is talking about the Mississippi River corridor.
I live in that corridor, in Donaldsonville, Louisiana.
Public education is abysmal.
Why?
Because the students do abysmally.
Why?
Because THEY take the tests.
There WAS great public school opportunity where I live until the federal govt came into the picture here in 1970.
The community is, basically, devastated.
As is much of the Mississippi River corridor.
It all hinged on federal involvement with public education.
I will be blunt:
too many products of the welfare society.
This is not a blatant broad stroke against "democrat youths".
But the fact is that my area needs, simply, a public school system with some type of minimum admission standard for a parallel system.
But this community may be terminal, as far as "middle class America" goes, anyway.

Last time I checked a world class education consisted of reading the classics of world literature and philosophy, learning to write cohesive sentences that form a paragraph and ultimately result in an essay, an understanding of math and physical sciences principles and a grasp of history. It is what is derisively called liberal arts today, but back in the day mastering these topics made one "educated."

Nowhere in my curriculum for a world class education is there time to learn how to put a condom on a cucumber or how I should feel as opposed to how I should think.

Public schools are failing for a variety of reasons, which include too many parents that don't give a damn about whether or not their children receive a city class (let alone world class) education, too many teachers that aren't competent to teach to world class standards, and too many bureaucrats that are too busy covering their asses. The result is too many children that can't read, write, compute (that skill has nothing to do with instant messaging on a computer) or think independently.

We need to get the government out of education, not add to it. Anyone who believes having the federal government take over education won't make a bad situation even worse is a fool.

Paul Marchand:
"Corridor of Shame" refers to the rural S. Carolina schools that are suing the SC state gov't for inadequate financial support. Sen. Obama made frequent reference to those schools during the primary there. Google "Corridor of Shame" for much more.
Wallace: To your question "Would the tax-payer have representation...? Answer: As much as you now have "representation" for how the Department of Education, or any federal agency, spends your tax money through your elected officials in Congress.

The phrase above that jumps out at me is: "from the moment they're born to the day they graduate college".

What exactly does Obama mean by "from the moment they're born". Exactly how is the federal government going to effect education of newborns?

I think this is the biggest red flag. What does it mean?

Best regards,
Gail

New Jersey has been spending huge dollars per poor child for years. The only thing this has done is raise property taxes in most suburban districts to intolerable levels because all the state aid has been sucked into the poor districts.

A brilliant summary of BO's plan and our likely response. Scary, but true. Nice work, Lee!

Ditto Scott and Paul. Obama's plans and his statements alone should prove the his undoing in his presidential bid...if only people had learned to think and received the basics of education, allowing them to see through the rhetoric.

A good education starts at home. Parental involvement.

Nationalize education and you control the curriculum. You then teach the children your leftist ideologies. Nationalize schools, nationalize oil, nationalize banking, nationalize health care, when are we going to wake up? First of all, the government cannot run everything and not everyone can work for the government. It has been tried and it fails. Look at N. Korea, do they not have all of the above? Cuba? The Soviets? That this crap even has a audience is disturbing.

The next step in the leftist master plan to control America.

I'll bet Obama can make the trains run on time, too.

The "easy cure" is all too seductive for many. "Just give me control, and you'll no longer have to worry about pesky things like making tough decisions and accountability." So goes the line of mommy-Socialism.

But I think that Wallace makes a good point. As in Illinois, schools in Texas are almost totally funded by property taxes. Local people do care (though arguably not enough of them) about the workings on their school boards and administrators. Many of them already feel ignored by the state board of ed (or legislature for that matter). Removing control to a higher level, a more displaced level, of government will result in either a) angrier locals, or b) locals who feel helpless in the face of gov't and no longer care. It seems that Socialists are hoping for "b".

I wonder if we Americans can envisage mommy-Socialism before it takes hold. If we, on the whole, cannot, we may be in a very different country in 2012.

While it is no way surprising to hear "plans" like this from Obama, it is still troubling. When it comes the AT audience, most of us really are preaching to the choir but it still isn't a bad idea to discuss the very serious problems evident in a plan such as the one Obama is proposing.
First and foremost, any time any candidate talks about Federalizing anything (or growing the power of the federal government in general) all truly concerned citizens should immediately be suspicious. Obama's plan should be sending up massive warning signs. It is simply one more example of his, and most Liberal Democrats, belief that more power for the Federal government is a good thing.
If one examines his proposal closely it is clear that the central focus is taking responsibility and authority from local agencies. Of course, since most state legislatures are full of individuals with dreams of going on to the next level and not representing their states, I doubt we'd find much resistance on their parts (except among truly civic minded conservatives).
In addition, it is already clear that the sorry state of American education is a large contributor to the overall decline of the country, especially the youth. A good bit of the system has already been hijacked by politicians, organizations, and unions and has resulted in an inferior product. Also, the public education system is the greatest tool ever invented to brainwash youth and young adults. If you disagree, go into your local public school and demand that creationism or intelligent design, theories as equally legitimate as evolution, be taught to your kids. I'd be interested in learning how quickly you're run out of the building. Liberals couldn't survive in the arena of open idea exchange, so they went into the public schools and made their ideas the only ideas available. I can say this because I came up the the public education system and only through the care and education I received from my parents was I able to see my "public" education for what it was.

Gail S - Obama's "Zero to Five Plan" is totally Orwellian. He claims that he'd be "helping parents" (using the typical Marxist redistribution of wealth slight of hand, as usual), by giving parents payments or tax breaks to have parents put their them INFANTS to 5-year-olds in the hands of a government run "child education" program. Scary? Grab your barf bag and find out more at this B.O. link.

www.barackobama.com/issues/education

Contrary to the comments made on the articles comment section. I think this sounds like a wonderful idea! How do we expect to compete on a world scale when our education system continues to deteriorate? We need to wake up and realize that the US is no longer in the position it was in 50 years ago....the balance of power is shifting, our jobs are being sent overseas to countries trying to build their middle class while ours slowly deteriorates, our dollar is getting weaker by the day...quality education is the key to the salvation of our nation. Other countries realize the importance of education for a nation and they invest in it....we depend on passing a school levy and trying to convince those w/o children in the system to raise their property taxes, which makes people view education on the wrong scale (as a community/neighborhood issue) as opposed to the national issue that it becoming...long gone are the days where a person could graduate high school and get a lifetime job with a pension at GM or Ford...we need to adequately prepare the next generation for success and the local school boards/systems are grasping at straws just trying to keep their head above water! It is illogical to keep doing what we've always done and expect different results.

Does it bother anyone that Obama has a "Zero to Five Plan"? That's years-oldn ot "grades"! From the cradle to college graduation - government raised and indoctrinated. A Brave New World, indeed.

To Lee Cary:
Thank you for defining "Corridor of Shame". I live in South Carolina and that issue is a very heated one here. I meant to post that earlier but it slipped my mind. The "corridor" refers specifically to the schools along Interstate 95

I think the most disturbing aspect is the part addressed under the text book publishers heading - "...The intelligent design vs. evolution debate will end inside the Beltway." Yeah, I think we all know how it will end! And Obama has the nerve to call himself a Christian man.

I'm sure the comments about what Obama wants are correct. Lets ignore the time it would take for the mechanics of the federal government taking over for now.
Would all those who like the way the feds have handled NCLB raise their hands.
I thought so.
That act is dying a well deserved death and will be missed by no one, especially teachers.
A bigger version of NCLB will go nowhere. Besides, with all of Obama's good deeds and higher taxes in place, the tanking economy will require everyone's attention by the start of a second term. There will be no room for a federal program that would be larger than hilarycare if enacted.

Isn't this the way the Soviets ran their school system and the way China & Cuba run theirs? Do we really want this Obamanation?

The person who wants to Federalize our educational system does not know or refuses to say that the nationalized school systems in the UK, Germany, Italy, and Portugal (I know about those countrys school systems) have failed. Only the students who go to special public schools or good private schools do well in universities, which themselves have lowered standards. Our better public schools are good. Montgomery County MD and many of the Northern VA schools are very good because the parents of the children are educated and care.
I went to a good public high school many years ago. It was better than most other high schools in my city because the parents cared and the school board allowed for diversity in the lesson plans of the teachers.
The centralization of lesson plans and school books are the main source of the problem.
People do not want to address the real problems of our so called "inner city" schools. The magnet school systems have blunted the real problems.
I am glad that my grand daughters will be in college by the time those pseudo Marxists rule our schools and our lives.

The problem with the Education Industry in this country is John Dewey. He brought about the first major transformation from local School Boards to a more centralized model. Not surprising since Dewey was a confirmed Socialist/Stalinist.

Comrade B.H. Obama's plan takes Dewey's one step further by establishing a consistent curriculum throughtout the country. The Government will tell us what our children need to learn, how to learn it and what to do with that learning once they have reached a certain age.

Local School Boards, where each Board deals with a single Secondary school with various Primary shools 'feeding' it worked well for decades. Parents had real input to courses, teachers and teaching style. Thanks to Dewey and those of his Ilk, what we have now is simply a failing industry producing poor quality products with a usable life span measured in months.

If this happens I can see the Federal Government outlawing private schools. I don't think the fed could blatancy close them down. It would happen through much more insidious ways, say through nationalized testing or skills assessments. A scary idea indeed.

The federal government will educate children the way they want them to think instead of teaching them to think for themselves. In other words brain wash them much like what goes on in our universities today. Just one more step, along with other government programs, to make our country like the USSr.

I am firmly against nationalizing public education. Every nationalized program around the world has been a failure. I don't trust a federal government that spends $400 on a $5 hammer for the army to be custodians of educational resources. That said, the first thing that must happen is to break the strangle hold school districts and teachers unions have teacher pay scales and retention. Teaching is the only professional career I know of where searching for a new job means consistently taking a pay cut. One very good teacher friend of mine tried to move to a district where the administration was more focused on educating children than on getting federals dollars for pet programs of the administrative overlords. The move would have cost her over $10,000 a year in salary cuts. More than anything else I believe the "years of service" pay scales rather than "pay for performance" pay scales are hurting our children and keeping deadwood in public education. Any program that fails to address this fundamental issue is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

I believe Obama is primarily refering to the public education system in the inner cities. That is not to say the public education systems outside of inner cities are without problems. There are a variety of reasons public education has regressed over the past 30 years and in some cases, has become an utter failure. The first of these is the lack of parental guidance and involvement. Interestingly, children of immigrants seem to thrive and succeed in the public school systems. Why? Because their parents demand that they do so. Secondly, teacher's unions are a detriment to quality education. The unions do not protect the student, they protect the teachers. It is because of unions there are too many "teachers" who are barely educated and totally incompetent. Thirdly, many public education systems are controlled by liberals. Education has become indoctrination. Reading, writing and arithmetic were the foundations of lower and middle education, along with heavy doses of history, geography and civics. Today we have the "new" math but how many young people are capable of making change without a cash register or calculator providing the answer. How many young people can read a sentence or paragraph or, God forbid, a book and comprehend what has been read. Much less compose a paragraph indicating a coordinated and logical pattern of thought. Forget about geography, history (an exception being black history) or civics.

There are other problems that could be discussed but, one thing I am sure of, funding is not an issue for most public school systems. The per capita spending on public school students in general is much higher than that in Parochial schools and with little return. Obama's claim of underfunding is a crock.

The problems with public school systems will not be eliminated because they are the product of liberal thought and Democrat control. These must be eliminated first if there is ever to be a revival of public education in this country.

more liberal socialist nonsense. how can the democrats support this educational policy ? don't they know it will take at least a generation to have an impact ;) at least 15 longer than the impact of drilling today will have on the price of oil tomorrow.

what a paradox.

Dear "Something has got to give:"
You make the standard case for nationalizing public education in the U.S. well. You state "quality education is the key to the salvation of our nation." A true statement. Unfortunately, though, the Federal Government is not, in most of its endeavors, a world class quality host enterprise, excepting the U.S. Armed Forces. Take AMRTAK, USPS, Social Security, Medicare, War on Drugs, War on Poverty, Public Housing, ADC, (dare I mention FEMA?)...as just a partial list of federal enterprises that fail the "quality" test.

If we aim to take public education out of the hands of little "government" that isn't working, where is the experiential evidence that big government will do better? So how about the tried-&-true methods of achieving excellence in American. Privitize K-12. Let parents invest their tax monies where they see the best opportunity for their children getting a fine education. And if they don't pay taxes, then use federal dollars to give their most promising child-students a grant they can use at a private school. (Or, perhaps just turn the entire budget of the Chicago I.S.D. over to a private vendor.) If an I.S.D. fails to educate its students effectively, allocate their budget to a private enterprise and task them to do better.

Your statement "It is illogical to keep doing what we've always done and expect different results" is absolutely correct. So why turn the education of the nation's children over to the bureaucracy that's nearly spent Social Security into bankrupcy and expect a different result? In all venues of grand social engineering, the federal government has failed. Why should we expect a different result in education?

Thank you for reading the American Thinker and for your provocative response.
Lee Cary

As always, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" should send shivers down your spine. Whether it's health care, schools, whatever, it will get worse when nameless, faceless bureaucrats take it over. The reason education is in disarray is because there is already too much government meddling in the education of our kids.

"Comrade B.H. Obama's plan takes Dewey's one step further by establishing a consistent curriculum throughtout the country. The Government will tell us what our children need to learn, how to learn it and what to do with that learning once they have reached a certain age."

So why should kids in Massachusetts learn different things than those in Texas?

Why are thousands of different public school curricula (and at least 51 different sets of standards) good for the nation?

Lee, your "quality test" was the exact same answer my son gave when I asked him what he thought about nationalized education. And he's only 15!

What we have to understand is that there isn't just a push toward national standards but GLOBAL standards in education, from Preschool through college. Dept. of Ed. Secretary Margaret Spellings recently spoke in Paris to UNESCO and said,

"Imagine Cup finalist Louis Sayers said it well: "There's no one telling us that we can't do something.... If we don't like [it], we change it, and at the end of the day we know that [it] was built by us."

That is how we build a global platform for collaboration. It is the opposite of isolation. And it's exactly what we need right now!"

Global standards are also being pushed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which is also a major proponent of reinventing high schools.

So nationalized/global education is on the way unless the American people have the will to tell the candidates, the Federal government has NO Constitutional authority to act in education based on the Tenth Amendment. But I'm guessing that Obama's political will is stronger than the will of the American people.

Paul, when I wrote 'representation', I meant can I go to the board meeting and voice my opinion about a bond issue for a new facility at the school?

Or would I have to travel to Washington?

This may sound tongue in cheek, but it's said with total truth: Of course teachers want to become federal employees. Then when the little darlings act out in class, going so far as assault, all the teacher has to do is file an injury claim with the Department of Labor for stress. Then the liberal flake psychiatrists who believe everything told to them will keep them off work, on 75% of their weekly salary, tax-free, most likely for life. How do I know this? I'm a claims examiner. The Federal Employees Compensation Act, enacted in the 1930's, was desperately needed, and back then, people were still basically honest and hard working, and returned back to work as soon as possible. I could tell you stories that would have the average AT taxpayers' blood boiling about the fraud waste and abuse this program has become. 10% of the people on my compensation rolls truly deserve the money, because they were so injured at work, they cannot work. The other 90% are busy going online to read our laws and hiring lawyers to subvert the system so they don't have to go back to work. Oh did I mention?... Even though all you taxpayers subsidize these people, they don't pay one penny in income tax. These benefits are tax free. So they basically get 100% of their income, even at 75%. Averaged out, some of the higher paid employees, which teachers will be, enjoy a better standard of living than I do, without having to work for it.

So pass this info around. Some more info: when airport security screeners were converted to federal employment after 9/11 in 2003 (these were people that had worked in the civilian sector for many years, not new hires) 20% of the screeners immediately filed work injury claims that said "my back hurts", and promptly stopped working. Do you really want to add even more freeloaders to a system that is already teetering on the edge of breaking?

If the bottom line of this plan were simply to have education in America run like the U.S. Post Office, this plan would be criminal. However, given the liklihood of a Democrat Congressional majority to vote the funds and an Obama-chosen Supreme Court majority to carry this Orwellian scheme into the future, the election of Obama is akin to giving Lenin the key to the White House. This "alignment of the stars" spells the end of freedom in the U.S. and the destruction of the Constitution that protected it for over 200 years. This is not "Change", this is revolution. All freedom loving people should do everything in their power to prevent this man's election in November.We are on the edge of a precipice from which there is no return.

This election is one of the most important in our history for many reasons. The most important of these is that for the first time our government could be in a situation where primarily only the voices coming from the extreme left could very well dominate the discussion and legislative action regarding the critical issues facing our country's future for years to come. Please Consider: Obama's Left -A Trojan Horse (Donkey) Approaches at zachjonesishome.wordpress.com
Located: http://zachjonesishome.wordpress.com/2008/07/15/obama%e2%80%99s-left-a-trojan-horse-donkey-approaches/

Still, no one has explained why kids in Massachusetts shouldn't be learning the same thing as kids in Texas.

Jim:
You ask, "So why should kids in Massachusetts learn different things than those in Texas?"

For the same reason Texas and Mass. have different marriage laws, handgun laws, and laws about how to respond to someone stealing your horse.

They're different states. And besides, math is math anywhere. It's the fuzzy stuff that's the rub.

Thanks for reading the American Thinker.

You people don't have a clue about what you are asking for if you let the government take over. Picture this, you have a 4 bedroom house with 2 people living in it the government decides you have too much space for just 2 people. The government decides to move in 3 homeless people in the extra bedrooms, this helps eliminate the homeless on the street and takes care of you having more than someone else. If you don't believe this will happen they thought the same thing in europe in the 70's when socialism took over.WAKE UP AMERICA!!! QUIT BEING SOOOOOOO LAZY

Ahhh yes. Millions of American youth, all marching in lockstep(er, goose-stepping?) to the tune of The Big Federal Entity......learing EXACTLY what The Big Federal Entity wants them to learn. Does this remind anybody else of that particular regime that used to run Germany and most of Europe?
Be afraid, very afraid, that National SOCIALISM is about to rear its ugly head right here in the good ole US of A if Obama gets elected and puts these policies in place.

Education is one area in which Obama does have experience. However, he has downplayed his past. Why? Because his experience in Chicago schools is intwinded with our own home grown terrorist, Bill Ayers.
The McCain camp and the Republicans should encourage more on Obama's Chief Education Officer qualifications. There is lots to sniff around on that tree. Readers can go to Steve Diamond's blog on Global Labor and Global Economy; bring a tall cup of coffee - its great reading, well researched, and hard to walk away.

One more check off the Communist Manifesto for good old Comrade Barack. So when will the Democrats rename there party to the Communist Party? Seems more appropriate.

Worst thing that could ever happen to the school system. My wife has been teaching for 25 years, and the more local and federal governments regulate what they have to teach, the more our kids will suffer. Parents see education as a hands off institute, but it is the cooperation between the parent, child, and teacher that makes education better. NOT someone up in Washington telling them what to do and how to do it. Pretty soon they will install TV's with national teachers to teach exactly what they want to every child. Barack Obama is insulting the intelligence or the American people, and it's time to say NO!

Re: John Dewey. He said, "You can't make Socialists out of individualists - children who know how to think for themselves spoil the harmony of the collective society which is coming, where everyone is interdependent." Hitler said, "Let me control the textbooks and I will control the state."

The Communists stated that they would take over America one day without firing a shot. IT is happening people. Barack Hussein Obama is a Communist, and the Democrat Party veil is becoming more and more thinned as they are beginning to layout their agenda. Compare, my fellow Americans, what this Marxist is saying and look at the pasts of the Communist regimes. It is happening, and we are like sheep being led to slaughter.

Government schools are not education centers. They are indoctrination centers. When/if the government takes over they will expand on training students that government is good and individuality is bad, creating a "utopian society" that believes total dependence on government is the way to go. If we REALLY want to improve our education system, open it up to competiton. If you don't like the school your child is attending you should have the ability to pick the one you like. When there is a mass exodus from the first school they will figure out they are doing something wrong and try to correct it or close. If Federalized there is no incentive to improve.

"Something has got to give" was complaining about jobs being sent over-seas and our dollar getting weaker. I'm going to go way out on a limb and guess that you were probably educated in a government/public school system (probably within the last 10-15 years). These companies are moving because of the punitive tax laws that our government have put in place. Chrysler merged with Daimler-Benz several years ago. Chrysler was the larger company, but they moved the corporation to Germany be cause their tax laws were less restrictive. Sprint Communications may be moving to South Korea for the same reason. Our corporate tax rate is 40%, S. Korea's is 27%. Do the math and tell me where you would rather be based. This is, also, part of the reason why the dollar is getting weaker. The government doesn't want you to know this. They want you to believe that higher taxes only affect evil rich people and large corporations. They won't bother teaching you anything about basic economics or how to figure things out on your own in high school because they know you would never let them get away with most of the crap they put past us if you only understood. This is only one example of how they CURRENTLY brainwash students. Imagine if they had COMPLETE control!

By the way, If we want to keep companies from leaving America, increase the value of the dollar, and reduce the price of oil, convince your Congressional Represenatatives to sign on to the FarTax and get it passed. But that's another idea for another time.

Does any one here remember what states rights are? The country was set up for states to govern themselves so one would have a choice of where you want to live. The 17th amendment changed how we vote for senators which should represent the state... not the people - the house of Reps does that. The Amendment needs needs to be repealed. This is the election where we as cicizens take a stand and not let the liberal minority dictate our future. The federal Gov is for oversight of the country as a whole working for us... not us working for them. The more power we give the fed the more we slip into socialism, which is Obama's goal all along.

O'Bama is quite the Marxist, eh?

I've only got one little booger, and we clearly made the right decision in homeschooling the little tax-exemption.
Federalize education... Ha ha ha. I hope they run it as well as they run FEMA and Social Security. My little booger will likely need some low level employees to help him build his empire. And besides, he'll probably still frequent Mickey D's, and someone will have to ask if he wants fries with his burger. Maybe if schools are federalized, they'll make English the national language! Hey, maybe this is a good thing. All of the federally educated morons can mess up our hamburger orders, but we'll understand 'em when they apologize. Uh, yeah. I think O'Bama wants us to all learn Spanish. Rats!

I sincerely hope there are fewer maggots out there with their hands out than there are folks like me that end up paying for everything. Which is the real difference between the left and the right in this country.
Ya'll have a nice day. Before the ever-increasing federal government makes that impossible.

Jim wrote "Still, no one has explained why kids in Massachusetts shouldn't be learning the same thing as kids in Texas."

Jim, it's not really the "what" but the "how". All kids need to learn the basics (reading, writing, math, scientific method, history). But how those are achieved must not be standardized. Teaching is not like cutting cookies. For competent teachers, it's at least as much art as it is "science" (which I put in quotes simply because it seems that so much education research is dubious).

Take reading for example. Some communities want their kids to read more classics - Greek tragedies, Shakespeare, etc. Others will opt for some multi-cultural approach. Some communities would recoil if their kids read Brave New World. Others teach rap in class as poetry. If there were to be no variance in "how"... On the other hand, I'll ask a question: would you want your child to be taught a federally enforced curriculum which you didn't agree with?

So, the answer to your question is that while "what" kids learn should not necessarily be different (at least when it comes to the basics), "how" they are taught will and should vary greatly depending on the locals.

Great point Greg - Fairtax would fix a lot of problems! As you pointed out though, the government controls our schools now so there is no education about even basic economics. I don't know the exact quote but a government offical once said the biggest problem with running a government is educated people. Just like you said. They want us to be lemmings and follow along blindy even if it kills us. The sad thing is politicians are so engrained in keeping their own jobs they forgot who they work for and why they are there. I know a few teachers who have told me there is no more attendance policy in schools, no failing kids, and now even the FCAT is irrelevant; it means nothing now and it used to mean a lot. How do we expect our kids to lead this country in the future if we don't teach them now. Anyone ever seen "The Wall" from Pink Floyd, all in all our kidsare all just bricks in Obama's wall.

Why does anyone still think that these candidates can put into effect the "plans" they talk about? They are talking points to make themselves look good, like they really care. After they get elected, almost all of it goes by the wayside. That's why they use phrases like, "I plan..." or "I propose..." because they know they aren't going to do anything real about it after they tricked everyone into voting them into office. Look at their speaches, their words are carefully phrased to not be lies, while at the same time they are NOT the truth, (ie Michael Moore). We all need to be very careful to find out as much as we can about the person running, not about what they "SAY" they will do in office. Obama is a talker, and not a doer. Voting records, check them out. How much has he actually helped real people? Just my opinion.

Jim:
You ask, "So why should kids in Massachusetts learn different things than those in Texas?"

If the state of Massachusetts wants to adopt the same education curricula as Texas that's fine and okay, because they have the authority to do so based on their state's Constitution. However, because the US Constitution includes the Tenth Amendment, the Federal government has no authority to require any state to adopt anything. There is NO Constitutional authority for the federal government to be involved in education, it was considered to be a state/local issue. But the idea of limiting the powers of the Federal government to only the Consitution is laughable to many liberal socialists.

They've gone beyond that and now consider what we should know as a "global citizen" in a world economy. After all, why should the kids in the US learn something different than the kids in Bejing or Iran. Look up the International Baccaluareate Organization and its mission and purpose and you'll understand that what I've said is already happening, probably at an "elite" high school near your own home. I've written quite a bit about this on my blog (click on Spunky) with links and quotes if you're interested in more info.

This chills me to the bone. This country is quickly becoming a marxist nation. With the current administration trying to nationalize the banks and Obama trying to nationalize everything else, there will be no room left any sort of freedom. I fear for these united states. There is a word for when government runs private industry its called fascism. This country is well on its way. Something must be done to stop this. The Constitution was meant to limit the powers of the federal government, not give it a blank check to tell us what is best for us. Education is a function left solely to the states. The government has become our overlord. The states need to stop this. We have the power. It is time states reasserted their sovereignty. The constitution was written so that the central government would have to answer to the states, not the other way around. Unfortunately most people, do not know what the constitution says or for what purpose it was written. It will be the beginning of the end of this nation if Obama is elected.

Andrew Coulson of the Cato Institute explains it well and is a lot more credible than someone named Spunky. From the Cato Liberty blog dated 7/16/08 he addresses McCain's speech and federal involvement in education,

"John McCain told the NAACP this morning that after decades of broken promises by the nation's public school systems it is time to give all parents an easy choice of public and private schools. He is right, so long as he doesn't propose a private school choice program at the national level.

The merits of wide-open parental choice -- and the basic justice of it --are compelling, but the Constitution mentions neither the word "education" nor the word "school." Congress and the president simply do not have a mandate to create such a program. More than that, a national private school choice program risks extending pervasive government regulation over private schools from the Potomac to the Pacific, homogenizing the options available to families and thus defeating the entire point of school choice. It is far better and safer for presidential candidates to tout the merits of school choice and encourage their state-level counterparts to put these programs into place. In that way, the varying experiences of the states - the so-called "laboratory of federalism" - can help to identify and eliminate problems in their implementation.

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2008/07/16/mccain-to-naacp-its-time-for-school-choice/

Andrew Coulson of the Cato Institute explains it well and is a lot more credible than someone named Spunky. From the Cato Liberty blog dated 7/16/08 he addresses McCain's speech and federal involvement in education,

"John McCain told the NAACP this morning that after decades of broken promises by the nation's public school systems it is time to give all parents an easy choice of public and private schools. He is right, so long as he doesn't propose a private school choice program at the national level.

The merits of wide-open parental choice -- and the basic justice of it --are compelling, but the Constitution mentions neither the word "education" nor the word "school." Congress and the president simply do not have a mandate to create such a program. More than that, a national private school choice program risks extending pervasive government regulation over private schools from the Potomac to the Pacific, homogenizing the options available to families and thus defeating the entire point of school choice. It is far better and safer for presidential candidates to tout the merits of school choice and encourage their state-level counterparts to put these programs into place. In that way, the varying experiences of the states - the so-called "laboratory of federalism" - can help to identify and eliminate problems in their implementation.

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2008/07/16/mccain-to-naacp-its-time-for-school-choice/

Whatever happened to "Government isn't the solution, Government is the problem'? Time for pitchforks and torches.

First of all, let me say that I am totally against what BO has lined out in his agenda. In no way is more government good. I totally think that schools should be privatized. Capitalism has a perfect way of regulating businesses and I think the same thing would be true in regards to schools.
However, after reading the comments on this article and ones like it I get very irritated with all the teacher bashing that goes on. I know that in the past there were several teachers that should have quit years before they did. I am a teacher that went through my training at a Public University after the passing of NCLB. Because of NCLB teachers are way more educated. I can only speak for myself but I know that myself and the fellow teachers I work with are highly educated. Are all teachers highly educated? No; but are we all a bunch of worthless indoctrinators? No. It is not solely the fault of educators that we are in the situation we are in. Blame needs to be placed on ALL parties involved.

Can anyone say socialism??

Spunky,

Glad to encounter someone else who is aware of the The International Baccalaureate Organization and the danger it poses to American public schools. I checked out your blog, very interesting, and scary. Please explain to me how Margaret Spellings is a Republican. Her nauseating endorsement of UNESCO and its efforts to control education in this country make me want to puke! She actually praises UNESCO for transparency! http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/2008/07/07072008.html That has got to be the most ignorant thing I've read today!

Please John McCain, when elected get rid of this madwoman!

i have long been out of school but if obama gets his way it will be just one step for him in haveing his way to ruleing the U.S.OFAMERICA.
until we the america people get back to are god and put him first we can look for people like obamam
posted by ray