Education and the Election

This presidential election cycle is extremely chaotic. McCain started out slowly, but then overwhelmed his competitors and obtained control of the Republican delegates. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is struggling between Clinton and Obama. Obama has a slight advantage with democratic delegates, but each requires “superdelegates” to clinch the party.

There are many issues that can help a voter decide who to support in this race, but I will bring a few points to light. Some of these points may help a voter to decide who to support. Whether this information may help primary voters within the Democratic Party or the full out presidential election in November, the candidates’ views on education may be surprising.

Regardless if one is a supporter of conservatives or liberals, the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, candidates across these spectra have something in common. This commonality should be of great interest to parents, teachers, and taxpayers. What is it? They all believe there is a need to bring change within education.

This change is not subtle, even if certain candidates do not boldly mention their intentions. Here are some of their views on education, in alpha order by candidate.

Hilary Clinton
She supports school choice, charter schools, and alternative routes to teacher certification (Clinton, 2008)

John McCain
He believes in vouchers, which would allow parents the ability to send schools to a variety of performing schools. He supports merit pay. This means he wants to reward teachers for extra effort. He also believes in homeschooling (The Des Moines Register, n.d.). He wants to assist math, science, and engineering education (The Des Moines Register, n.d.)

Barack Obama
He supports merit pay (Fitzgerald, 2007 & Davis and Miller, 2007 & Marcus, 2007).

All the candidates agree on one thing: No Child Left Behind needs to be changed. Some candidates feel more strongly about this than others. Some candidates want to alter or adjust it; other candidates want to throw it out and start fresh (Light, 2008).

Regardless of one’s choice for a candidate, business as usual is not on any of the candidates’ agendas. As an administrator, I find this to be refreshing. It is my personal hope that teachers who are directly in the trenches will acknowledge these sentiments for change. Consequently, there needs to be pedagogical shifts to propel education toward modernization.

When all of these candidates resonate on the need for change within schools, it is a clear indication of the electorate’s dissatisfaction. It must also follow that schools should unite in this purpose so as not to entirely forfeit what we know as public education. It is time for educators to stop thinking public education – at least the way it is currently constructed – will be immune to outside forces that are demanding reconstruction.

Be an informed voter. Study the issues and choose accordingly.

Resources
Clinton, H. (2008) Official Senate Website. Accessed March 8th, 2008 at: http://clinton.senate.gov/issues/education/index.cfm?topic=elementary

Davis, T. and Miller, S. (2007) Obama Bucks Party Line on Education: '08 Democrat Pushes Performance-Based Pay. ABC News. Accessed on March 8th, 2008 at: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3894699&page=1

The Des Moines Register (n.d.) John McCain: Education. YouTube. Accessed March 8th, 2008 at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8DUM4CwkiE

The Des Moines Register (n.d.) McCain on Education. YouTube. Accessed March 8th, 2008 at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXUar_RQ0JU&feature=related

Fitzgerald, T. (2007) Obama Tells Teachers He Supports Merit Pay. Accessed March 8th, 2008 at: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/8335627.html

Light, N (2008) Education Experts Critique Candidates' Policies. Kansas City InfoZine. Accessed March 8th, 2008 at: http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/27328/

Marcus, R. (2007) From Barack Obama, Two Dangerous Words. Washington Post. Accessed on March 8th, 2008 at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/10/AR2007071001304.html