| Sound off about... President Bush and education |
Will Bush's education reform plan improve America's schools?
January 30, 2001
Last week, President Bush called on Congress to devote its attention to his first legislative priority: his multi-billion dollar education reform package. A good portion of the package, which by most accounts is expected to be met with bipartisan support, features the following highlights:
- Expanded, mandatory testing of all children every year in math and reading from the third through the eighth grade.
- A system whereby states, districts and schools that show improvement on these tests would be rewarded, while those that fail would have to suffer consequences such as having teachers or principals removed, loss of financial aid, and possibly school takeover.
What is your assessment of Bush's plan? Do you think these measures are the appropriate ones to take to reform our public schools?
There is one additional element of Bush’s plan, however, which could keep the rest of the bill from being passed: vouchers. A voucher system involves taking financial aid that was initially earmarked for schools that have performed poorly on testing, and applying the aid in the form of grants to the parents of low-income students to use on tuition for private schools or tutors.
Many Democrats strongly oppose vouchers, arguing that they would do nothing to help our lagging public school system because they would take money away from schools that are already strapped for cash. Although Bush never actually uses the word “vouchers”, he sees such grants as a way of giving lower-income parents something they’ve never had before: choices.
In his first radio address, however, Bush announced that he was willing to back off from vouchers a bit and listen to other approaches. But one thing he did not back off on was his desire for choice in education, stating, “Children and parents who have had only bad choices need better choices, and it is my duty as president to help them.”
How do you feel about school vouchers? Do you agree with President Bush, that all children and parents should have choices when it comes to education?
Here are some additional issues to consider and questions to answer:
- According to the Education Department’s 1999 National Assessment of Education Progress, reading and science skills among American students have declined since 1992. Who or what do you think is to blame for this?
- According to the same study, American students have achieved minor improvements in mathematics versus similar-age students of a decade ago. To what or whom can we attribute this success? How do we build on this success?
- Finally, what do you see as the future of the American education system? What are the biggest obstacles facing American students and educators? If you were put in charge of improving our nation’s schools, how would you go about doing it?
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