http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21914268/
When one thinks of education on the political platform, one generally touches upon the idea of “No Child Left Behind” or at least it seems that way ever since President Bush put the bill into law on January 8th, 2002. Obama is a strong supporter of the bill passed by President Bush; however, he feels that it was not fully completed when it was put into action.
Obama’s solution to the mistakes made by Bush includes passing an $18 million education plan which would do several different things. First, Obama would like to see universal pre-kindergarten programs. Second, he wants to expand teacher mentoring programs and reward teachers with increased pay not tied to standardized test scores. Third, Obama calls for the failing teachers to be removed from the classrooms and replaced with ones who are competent. Obama plans to fund the $18 million plan by delaying the NASA's Constellation Program and by auctioning surplus federal property and by cutting down erroneous payments identified by the Government Accountability Office.
Obama’s plan to save “No Child Left Behind” has good intentions; unfortunately, there are many people that oppose his idea and say that his plan is just too unrealistic. One spokesperson from the Republican National Committee said “it is ironic that Barack Obama's plan to help our children reach for the stars is financed in part by slashing a program that helps us learn about those very same stars.” I, myself, have my doubts on whether or not Obama is ‘getting in over his head’ with his drastic changes to help improve our education.
The main concerns I have with Obama’s plan are the scholarships he wants to give to teachers to try and accommodate more teachers and the idea of kicking out “bad” teachers and replacing them with more qualified ones. The premise for each idea carries great potential; nonetheless, I do not see the ideas being able to be carried out realistically. According to a USA Today article, more and more schools are going overseas to bring in teachers because there are too few in America currently. There is no room for Obama to dispose of “bad” teachers even though it sounds like a good plan. The other idea of the scholarships again is a good idea, but with the current state of our country with the War in Iraq and the trillions of debt we are in how can we provide more money to entice people to become teachers.
In conclusion, Obama is on the right track with taking a strong stance on the issue of education in America; however, I think Obama needs to create some more realistic goals if he wants to make a difference on the education front.
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