Dept of Education, R U 4 or against it?

[BOBO]

The current crop of repub POTUS candidates including Cain want to see the DOE to be combusted, like "Down the Freakin Road"(DFR). Do you support the idea of giving control of education back to the 50 individual states???
Libertarian minded congressman Ron Paul seems the most aggressive of the current repub candidates on touching off the DOE. Ron prefers to get all government at all levels out of education & going back to strictly private education(non tax funded). I've heard both the pros & cons on this topic from many concerned individuals including those that support home schooling & also the voucher system.
Should we keep the status quo or move on to strictly private education? Your input is appreciated!

 

[FA_Q2]

I am surprised that no one has answered this yet.

I believe that the federal government should have some role in setting baselines for the countries education to follow. We need a standard for all schools to achieve as a minimum such as particular levels in math and science that one needs to achieve to be able to graduate high school. If all states had different ideas on what you should be learning no one would be able to get a basic education let alone transfer from the schools in one state to the schools in another state. Even colleges that are entirely private have recognized that there needs to be some continuity between the various schools and their curriculums hence the process of accreditation.

That should be the beginning and the end of the department of education though. The rest, such as the administration, establishment and rules that schools are subject to should all be local issues. I am all for a voucher system and have debated for it in many places here and would love to see a larger move to private schools as the public system has failed miserably.


Ultimately, the failure of the schools I think is less an issue of the DoE and more an issue of accountability and teaching to the lowest denominator. No one fails high school anymore. That should not be the case. An achievement that is gained by everyone is not an achievement at all. You should have to work for a diploma and work hard. They are given out like candy these days. On top of that, in order to maintain passing everyone, classes are taught to the slowest students in the school. Accountability is another issue and that is why i like the voucher system. The way the system is set up in its current form, you are REQUIRED to attend a specific school no matter how horrible that school is. Parents have almost zero choice in the education of their children and that MUST come to an end. Parents need to have the ability to hold a school accountable for their actions and quality of service they provide. Until that happens, the schools have zero incentive to improve.

 

[rightwinger]

Dept of Education is small and most decisions are made at the state and local level. I have no problem with the current structure.

 

[random3434]

The current crop of repub POTUS candidates including Cain want to see the DOE to be combusted, like "Down the Freakin Road"(DFR). Do you support the idea of giving control of education back to the 50 individual states???
Libertarian minded congressman Ron Paul seems the most aggressive of the current repub candidates on touching off the DOE. Ron prefers to get all government at all levels out of education & going back to strictly private education(non tax funded). I've heard both the pros & cons on this topic from many concerned individuals including those that support home schooling & also the voucher system.
Should we keep the status quo or move on to strictly private education? Your input is appreciated!

I'd like to know HOW Americans will pay for this private education without the government. If you have a child in school, but make $20,000 a year, I would guess you qualify for a voucher, eh? Who pays for that voucher? Who pays for the school buildings, the teachers, the books and supplies and internet and...well, you get the idea.

Homeschooling can be beneficial as long as the parents know what to teach, but many parents aren't qualified to teach what is needed for 12 years.

Private schools give great educations, but many parents can't afford them either.

So what about those kids who live in poverty all across this country? Who teaches them, and how is it going to be paid for?

Thanks for any info!

 

[tonystewart1]

I see no problem geting rid of the Department of Education. I already pay property taxes to my county to pay for public education why should I also pay federal taxes to pay for the same thing.

 

[FA_Q2]

Dept of Education is small and most decisions are made at the state and local level. I have no problem with the current structure.

If it is small then why does it cost 50 billion to run?
Death and Taxes 2011. It's the government, in six square feet.

 

[Claudette]

I agree.

Cities, Towns and States collect taxes for Education.

Let the States handle the education systems within their States.

No need for a Dept of Education.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Get rid of it now. Along with the EPA, Dept. of Energy, etc.

 

[FA_Q2]

Claud and tony,

Do you not see any need for a basic standard of what a school should be teaching and to what level that should be?

 

[Nosmo King]

If one of the mandates given to the Department of Education was to properly instruct Americans in spelling the words "Are" "You" and "For", then I'd say the Department has been a colossal failure.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

First, our educational system has been sabotaged, you either see that or you're an idiot. It's no accident that inner city schools in Democrat big cities are the poorest performing schools in the civilized world.

Department of Education needs to be immediately disbanded.

The UFT should be outlawed as domestic terrorists

All schools should be under local control and get an annual letter grade rating like the restaurants in NY and CA based on academic performance of their students. Local taxes and endowments will support the schools. The schools could even give scholarships to qualified students.

 

[rightwinger]

Dept of Education is small and most decisions are made at the state and local level. I have no problem with the current structure.

If it is small then why does it cost 50 billion to run?
Death and Taxes 2011. It's the government, in six square feet.

That's $167 per person compared to the $4000 I pay in local school taxes

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Dept of Education is small and most decisions are made at the state and local level. I have no problem with the current structure.

If it is small then why does it cost 50 billion to run?
Death and Taxes 2011. It's the government, in six square feet.

That's $167 per person compared to the $4000 I pay in local school taxes

Every person in American pays your local school taxes? Yeah? You sure you have your math right?

 

[peach174]

Ever since the Dept. of Ed started in 1980 our schools teaching has gone downhill.
Before when it was just the office of Education we were ranked 3rd in the world.
Now we are ranked 18th among the 36 industrialized nations.
We have to get rid of it.

 

[rdean]

Red states want to keep their kids as stupid as possible. Of course they want it abolished.

I don't know why they even care. So many drop out anyway.

 

[rightwinger]

Ever since the Dept. of Ed started in 1980 our schools teaching has gone downhill.
Before when it was just the office of Education we were ranked 3rd in the world.
Now we are ranked 18th among the 36 industrialized nations.
We have to get rid of it.

How will that make our schools better?

 

[Gadawg73]

We see kids get Pell grants at 6K a piece and flunk out immediately as they had no intention of sticking with college. Others get it and have wealthy grandparents that by them fancy cars.
Maybe block grants to states but DOE is a large waste of $$$.

 

[Si modo]

Against.

Maybe if they reform - a lot - I wouldn't be. But as it is? No way.

 

[whitehall]

Getting rid of the gigantic cumbersome bureaucracy doesn't mean that the federal government loses input in the education of our kids. Federal law still superceeds state law. Getting rid of the Dept. of Ed means we don't need a hundred or a thousand federal employees of the Dept of Ed. nit-picking petty regulations and draining the economy of billions while producing nothing.

 

[peach174]

rdean you have it backwards,it's the dems who want them stupid and who are teaching socialism not actual subjects