Tuesday, May 29, 2012

ROMNEY'S IDEA OF EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN

ACTUALLY.....did you know that Romney said "As President I will be a champion of real education reform in America"?  Do you think he really knows what that means much less how he would do it?  Well, he has told the Latino Coalition that "starting on day one", OMG that's another day one thing, he will be there to give parents of every low-income and special needs student the opportunity to choose where their child will go to school. That's quite a statement.  A Chance for Every Child is the education program that Romney spelled out in his speech to the Latino Coalition.  He is promoting a pro-choice, pro-voucher, pro-states-rights education system that will certainly hasten the privatization of the public school system.

The parents of poor and special-education students would choose a school based on standardized test scores, and then public money would follow the child to school. In other words, it's a voucher system. His program is not based on quality research.  It doesn't mention the reform that's been shown to be the best: early-childhood education.  His goal is for every classroom to have a quality teacher.  Of course, that's not too hard if he can find a teacher for a school in a disadvantaged neighborhood and be able to pay them a quality salary.  Has he really considered how difficult that is?  Oh! Of course, he and his wealthy co-hearts would chip in on the salary bit.

Romney opposes investment in education. In 1994 he said "we don't need to spend more on education".  As Governor of Massachusetts, he closed a $1.2 million budget shortfall by cutting millions in funding for K-12 education.  By his second year as Massachusetts Governor schools saw one of the largest cuts in the nation on a per-student basis, and forced school districts to cut staff, increase class sizes.  He called it "non-reform reform and said that efforts to reduce class size "may actually hurt education more that it helps". Yes, you can fact check this - I have.

Mitt Romney is ignoring the important role that outside-school factors play in the performance of a child in the classroom.  He can talk about how a great teacher and their students can overcome the effects of living in poverty and turmoil, but it's just not possible.  An underprivileged, tired, sick or hungry child simply can't do as well as one who isn't.

Romney thinks the federal government should have no control over local education, which would mean that states would no longer have to meet federal requirements for improving schools.  States would be in control of running their systems.  Bad idea Mitt!  He opposes what he calls "unnecessary" teacher-certification.  Yeah, it's an open door policy.  If you can add 2+2, congrats you can become a math teacher.

Do I sound bitter - well I am!  This man wants to mess with our children.  He can't relate to these peoples education problems. He just "doesn't get it".  He's not worried about our children's schools or their education, he's worried about being elected President of the United States.  God help us!!!