Education

"Laws for the generous education of youth...are so extremely wise and useful that to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant."
                                                                                                   - John Adams

The Federal Government has failed in providing a stable base for the education of our children. Our approach to education must be well balanced and all encompassing, it must be focused not only the future needs of our nation but the future needs of our children and it must be funded at a level and a manner to guarantee success.

"No Child Left Behind" was supposed to fix the shortcomings of our educational system, instead if forced the over testing of students to show proficiency. Teachers are now doing test drills instead of actually educating students because of fear of the federal government labeling the school as failing and withholding funds. Schools are to be a place for the pursuit of knowledge not factories for test scores and fact regurgitation. The Federal Government's heavy handed "No Child Left Behind" and their light handed funding has produced a feeling of frustration in school administrators, teachers, and us parents.

We should be providing the best possible education in all areas of study, not just focusing on math and science, but English and literature, art and music, languages, history and civics as well. Improperly placing the focus of resources on one or two areas of study weakens the system as a whole and will eventually result in the need to, once again, refocus our resources to those deficient areas.

The education system in our country must be re-established. The Department of Education needs a ground up overhaul, in both internal practices and policy initiatives. It needs a review of the scope of its authority, and enforcement abilities, and it must put forth education initiatives that are broad enough for state latitude and specific enough to ensure consistency throughout the nation, while providing funding adequate for those goals.