Question: What do conservatives think about Obama's education initiatives?
Answer: According to his transition site, change.gov, Obama wants to take an already failing educational policy and make it even worse.
There is little doubt among educators and politicians alike that "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) has created more problems than it solved. Obama's plan is to reform the law by funding it.
The transition site has been stripped of many of its details, presumably as Obama's advisers work to bring his policies into better focus. One of the most important details -- and one which Obama has never answered -- is where the funding for his education reform would come from. Even at its best, NCLB will continue forcing teachers to teach to the assessment tests. This means less genuine learning by students, less genuine teaching and, for teachers, more bureaucratic administration.
One of the most important changes Obama could make to education -- and one of the least likely -- is removing much of the administrative power of the National Education Association. In 1994, the NEA adopted the special education inclusion policy, perhaps the greatest single obstacle to positive student performance (besides the ridiculous amount of paperwork teachers must supply administrators). The inclusion policy requires students performing at the lowest educational levels to be included in the same classrooms as students performing at the highest levels. This "politically correct" policy defeats learning by distracting students from both levels and forcing teachers to spend valuable teaching time dealing with disciplinary issues that arise between them. If the NEA's power were stripped to its fundamentals, many of the policies and programs that are hurting genuine education would be eliminated and the need for monthly -- and sometimes weekly -- standardized tests would be greatly reduced.
Overall, Barack Obama's education plan calls for a tremendous amount of new spending, including:
Conservatives believe that government should take a bigger role in understanding the very significant problems educators face by listening to them before they allocate money blindly. Just like the bailout of the banking industry, the billions of dollars Obama wants to spend on education will be divvied up to schools without restrictions on how it will be administered. If politicians fail to listen to the teachers on the front lines -- instead of the NEA lobby and the teacher unions -- the problems with education in this country will only continue to grow.
Obama has the opportunity to correct the long-standing institutional irresponsibility that has plagued government with regard to how education dollars are spent. He could be the first president in history to pass meaningful education legislation that doesn't cost a penny, but goes a long way to solving the problems the exist in our public schools. Not every school district has the same problems, which means that blanket reforms won't work. Legislation has to be enacted that ensures parity from district to district. This doesn't mean that school districts should receive the same amount of money; it means that school districts should be given the same amount of opportunities.
Most school districts have qualified teachers. The trouble, in most cases, is with school administrators who exist simply to draw a paycheck. Often, these over-paid administrators create more problems than they prevent. Before allocating a single penny to school districts, school administrators should be required to show exactly what they are doing to improve teaching conditions and student progress. Administrators who are creating better teaching environments and assisting with the day-to-day disciplinary problems in their schools should be given incentives. Those who are not should be removed and replaced.
FAQ Index to Conservatives & Barack Obama's Policies
There is little doubt among educators and politicians alike that "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) has created more problems than it solved. Obama's plan is to reform the law by funding it.
The transition site has been stripped of many of its details, presumably as Obama's advisers work to bring his policies into better focus. One of the most important details -- and one which Obama has never answered -- is where the funding for his education reform would come from. Even at its best, NCLB will continue forcing teachers to teach to the assessment tests. This means less genuine learning by students, less genuine teaching and, for teachers, more bureaucratic administration.
One of the most important changes Obama could make to education -- and one of the least likely -- is removing much of the administrative power of the National Education Association. In 1994, the NEA adopted the special education inclusion policy, perhaps the greatest single obstacle to positive student performance (besides the ridiculous amount of paperwork teachers must supply administrators). The inclusion policy requires students performing at the lowest educational levels to be included in the same classrooms as students performing at the highest levels. This "politically correct" policy defeats learning by distracting students from both levels and forcing teachers to spend valuable teaching time dealing with disciplinary issues that arise between them. If the NEA's power were stripped to its fundamentals, many of the policies and programs that are hurting genuine education would be eliminated and the need for monthly -- and sometimes weekly -- standardized tests would be greatly reduced.
Overall, Barack Obama's education plan calls for a tremendous amount of new spending, including:
- Early Learning Challenge Grants
- A quadruple increase in Head Start funding
- High-quality child care for working families
- Dropout crisis intervention funding
- A double increase for afterschool programs
- Funding for a "Make College a Reality" program, which offer grants for students seeking college credits
- Teacher Recruiting Grants covering undergraduate and graduate school classes
- Teacher Residency Programs that will supply 30,000 recruits to high-end schools
- More Teacher Mentoring Programs and paid common planning time
- Increased teacher pay
- Funding for the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which guarantees the "first $4,000 of a college education is free for most Americans"
Conservatives believe that government should take a bigger role in understanding the very significant problems educators face by listening to them before they allocate money blindly. Just like the bailout of the banking industry, the billions of dollars Obama wants to spend on education will be divvied up to schools without restrictions on how it will be administered. If politicians fail to listen to the teachers on the front lines -- instead of the NEA lobby and the teacher unions -- the problems with education in this country will only continue to grow.
Obama has the opportunity to correct the long-standing institutional irresponsibility that has plagued government with regard to how education dollars are spent. He could be the first president in history to pass meaningful education legislation that doesn't cost a penny, but goes a long way to solving the problems the exist in our public schools. Not every school district has the same problems, which means that blanket reforms won't work. Legislation has to be enacted that ensures parity from district to district. This doesn't mean that school districts should receive the same amount of money; it means that school districts should be given the same amount of opportunities.
Most school districts have qualified teachers. The trouble, in most cases, is with school administrators who exist simply to draw a paycheck. Often, these over-paid administrators create more problems than they prevent. Before allocating a single penny to school districts, school administrators should be required to show exactly what they are doing to improve teaching conditions and student progress. Administrators who are creating better teaching environments and assisting with the day-to-day disciplinary problems in their schools should be given incentives. Those who are not should be removed and replaced.
FAQ Index to Conservatives & Barack Obama's Policies
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- Conservatives & Obama's Education Initiatives
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