Although having a number of educators providing advice on education policy, such as Eileen Weiser of the National Assessment Governing Board (http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/b501220e-3c9f-4ff7-85fd-524ce99b66c9.htm) and Phil Handy, former chairman of the Florida State Board of Education (http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/8ec58462-84b1-4f6b-88dd-80232036fc09.htm), McCain has yet to officially release an education policy.
During the 9 December 2007 republican primary debate on Univision McCain (http://www.ontheissues.org/2007_Univision_GOP.htm) stated
"Choice and competition is the key to success in education in America. That means charter schools, that means home schooling, it means vouchers, it means rewarding good teachers and finding bad teachers another line of work. It means rewarding good performing schools, and it really means in some cases putting bad performing schools out of business. I want every American parent to have a choice, a choice as to how they want their child educated, and I guarantee you the competition will dramatically increase the level of education in America."
McCain has also suggested turning education policy back to individual states and offering federal money through unrestricted block grants. He will keep most aspects of No Child Left Behind legalization in place.
I'm very shocked!!! The president need to control the policy of the school not the State!!
It seems having a singular entity, the president/federal government, in control over our educational system would hamper creative options to better our children's well being. Seeing as how people learn in different ways it would be folly to think a standard system would be in our best interest. Progress is only possible when we are free to change the status quo, and with the fears of funding loss it is nearly impossible. If we only teach the test how could we ever begin to think freely, and in turn take control over our own lives.
Although it wouldn't make sense to have the federal government micromanage education, it would make sense to have national standards, especially for those of us who move frequently from state to state. A lot of people move out of state for employment reasons and it would be nice for our kids to have a consistently high level of education. Also consider that kids who go to high school in one state might want to go to an out of state college. But if they're in a state with lousy standards, they might have a tougher time getting in.
Centralized control always sounds good to some, but how many times does it need to fail before we all learn that generally, centralized control (national or state) inevitably leads to lower standards for all when equality outweighs freedom. My fear is not that some states may have lower standards than others but rather that they won't. Exceptional performance is just that. Can we really afford to fear it? Equally bad is still bad. If we discourage competition, we will become uncompetitive. Simple enough?
I also agree with National Standards. We actually have them in place, but each state can "customize" them to fit their own needs.
I also agree that the states need to have control over education, after national standards are set. However, if you expect federal dollars, expect federal noses in your education.
National standards are critical in a country our size. Without them you will see wide divergence in education from state to state. In state that put a premium on their education system you would see high test scores and other poorer states would see much lower scores. We already see that across the country today. If we are to succeed and continue to be a world leader in science, technology, business and so on we have to improve our public education system. In my opinion the best way to do that consistently across the board is through the federal government. Why can a top student get a free college education in europe where here it would cost them from 15 to 50 thousand a year? We are way behind on this issue and it needs to be addressed soon.