Obama on Education

You know, I'm not a teacher. I don't even have a child in school yet. I know several public school teachers though and I feel for them. It's not an easy job. And they don't get much support from parents or administrators it would seem. They have classrooms full of children who come from parents who don't care; parents who do care; parents who care too much; parents who meddle; parents who refuse to believe their child might not be as smart as the kid next to them; parents who both have to work and can't take time off to care for a sick child; parents who both work, but don't have to, but still can't or won't take time off when their child should be at home and not in school; parents who love their kids; parents who might not really. It's a big hodge podge. And frankly, I think they mostly have to teach to the lowest common denominator. They aren't allowed to raise the kids up to a higher level, because some kids might fail and that would not do when it comes time for "the test," or with regard to the child's self esteem.

What Barack Obama said in that 5 minute video that Elphaba put up is right on in many ways and I don't disagree with alot of it, but so what. Based on what I can glean about where the other candidates stand on this issue, he hasn't hit on anything anyone else doesn't believe. No one seems to like No Child Left Behind. I can't really speak on it's merits or demerits, except to say, I'm pretty sure that everyone was clamouring for someone to do SOMETHING pre-George Bush and he did try.

Almost anyone these days would say that parents need to be parenting - so kids learn to read, so kids learn math, so kids learn to be human beings, not animals. I'm pretty sure conservatives have been saying this publicly for quite some time. It's not a revelation.

The problem is that Obama's answer to all of this to spend more money. He wants to pay teachers more; he wants to create universal pre-school; he wants before school, after school, under school, and over school programs. I counted no less than ten talking points on education on his campaign website that specifically mention increasing funding for various education-related ideas. There is not enough money for all of that. There never will be without turning our nation into a complete socialist boondoggle. I don't have the time or the wherewithall to refute all of Obama's suggestions, but I'll make a couple points and then duck.

1.) Increasing teacher pay. I don't know what all the salary rates are for public schools all over the country. I don't know all the schemes and systems designed to take in money and pay teachers. Off the top of my head, here's what I do know:

* When I substitute taught in the Austin Public School system 6 years ago, the starting salary for an incoming teacher was about $33,000 - $36,000. Since all I ever hear is how poorly public school teachers are paid, I was shocked. My first job out of college was fully $12,000 below that level and it didn't significantly change until I'd been at it for about 4 years.
* In the state of Idaho, where I currently reside, we have a state lottery that brings in money for public schools on top of regular funding, and last year that lottery brought more than $33 million to Idaho public schools.
* The Idaho Legislature recently had legislation on the table that would have given public school teachers in Idaho merit pay. It was shot down.
* Some of the poorest paid teachers in the country are not public school teachers. They are private school teachers. Ask my father in law.
* Public school teachers are largely unionized. This may be great for teachers. At some point it may have been richly needed. It may still be needed to some degree. But I suspect that it is not the best interests of public school children that unions have at heart. Otherwise, why would an idea like merit pay be anathema to them?

2.) Tax credits for higher education. The last thing colleges in America need to see is the federal government giving them one more excuse to raise tuition. That is exactly what will happen. Pell grants, federal students loans, scholarships - those have all increased dramatically in the past twenty years and so have college tuitions. If you want me to provide source material backing this up, I'll can.

3.) Parents need to parent. This is all good and well to say. But providing free day care or "pre-school," or before and after school breakfast, lunch and dinner programs is not going to achieve that. Human beings are like water - they choose the path of least resistance which is usually downhill. If you want human beings to swim upstream to the good spawning grounds (sorry for the analogy - just went steelhead fishing this past week), you are going to have to take away some of the crap they can get into along the way. I know this sounds harsh. And in the individual sense, I am certainly not for letting children starve. But most of the time, government is not the one who should be feeding our kids or providing daycare for them. I should be feeding the hungry kid next door if his parents aren't going to do it. Because you know what - one day they are going to have to look me in the eye. This might not change a damn thing - but who is the person that the parent has to be accountable to at the school cafeteria? The lady filling trays with mac and cheese? The hall monitor? We keep talking about accountability. How about making ourselves accountable for each other. This is the big elephant in the room. Everyone wants kids to be taken care of, but no one wants to do it. Half the time, the "good" parents don't even want to do it. So I don't know why we are surprised that poorly educated, drug-addled, or just plain immature parents don't want to do it when there are whole host of "services" that will take the responsibility off their shoulders.

4.) Regarding teaching to the test. I thought one thing Obama said in that speech was enlightening and I've never heard it before: If a child starts out two grades behind and at the end of the school year, he's one year behind, then that is progress. It IS progress. And it's time we looked at children as individuals who might or might not be able to advance to a certain point on "the test." There may be a portion of the school population who is NEVER going to pass that test. But if we don't take that into account and redirect them to what they CAN succeed at - then we are forever going to look like we are failing and as far as the child with a below average intelligence level is concerned, we will be failing him or her.

Now, peace out.