AM News: Candidates Touch On Education issues

Obama, Romney Battle Over Private Sector In Education Reuters:Making a bid for young voters and their parents, Obama accused Republican rival Mitt Romney of planning to slash aid to college students. Romney hit back by noting that Obama, a Democrat, has not been able to rein in the soaring cost of tuition. 

Which 2012 candidates make the grade? MSNBC: From the schoolhouse to the White House, the Obama campaign says the Romney-Ryan ticket will only make things worse with budget cuts, but the GOP insists that’s not true. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, fact-checks both campaigns. 

Hawaii Makes Race to Top Progress, But Is It Enough? PK12: State officials, whom I met with today in Washington before their check-in meeting with the federal department, can tick off a lengthy and on-its-own impressive list of achievements:

Union endorses a candidate backed by StudentsFirstNY GothamSchools: This week, New York State United Teachers endorsed Jeff Klein, a Democratic state Senator from the Bronx with a reputation for rebuffing teachers union interests. Earlier this summer, Klein also took in money from StudentsFirstNY, a group that a union-backed coalition is attacking for its board members’ Republican ties.

Teaching Teachers In San Francisco, Calif. NPR:  The San Francisco Teacher Residency helps historically underserved students who are able to improve equity and achievement in math, science and bilingual Spanish.

Cash from residents, business, foundations supports schools USAT: Beyond backpacks stuffed withsupplies: More schools are getting new assistance from individuals, foundations, businesses and endowments.

L.A. Unified replaces plastic foam cafeteria trays with paper ones Los Angeles Times: The districtwide switch to recyclable paper trays was sparked by students at one middle school who were studying the effects of trash on the environment.

Attitudes soften on illegal immigrants' kids USAT: Political battles over get-tough state immigration laws in Arizona and Alabama may be softening Americans' attitudes toward the children of illegal immigrants, 

Comments

[Bruce]

Randi Weingarten sounds as if she is moving in the right direction. It is imperative that we make better investments in the last years of high school, and an American Baccalaureate Certificate, which would operate as part of a system of qualifications in a manner similar to the systems in Finland and Singapore, which she extols, should form the centerpiece of this vital reform. Schools of all sorts (public, private, chartered) willing to innovate in this direction deserve public support, and Governor Romney, with his attitude towards vouchers, is ahead of the president and Ms. Weingarten in this respect. She correctly emphasizes that we should be trying to help all children, but the Finnish system is based on a comprehensive school for nine years (not 12), and the Singaporeans only educate everyone together for six years, which is too few, in my judgement.

[Sarah]

The illegal immigration question’s always fascinated me, because of the inherent bias with it, for it is only illegal immigrants from Mexico that are given the focus as far as legislation goes. As, from what I’ve read of this legislation, and the impact on families, the concern of that article, is the focus.

[Sarah]

Ahead in that respect, perhaps, but privatizing education in general, as his ideal would be, is a slippery slope. I personally feel Obama and Romney each have part of the answer correct.

[Bruce]

Agreed, Sarah, about the governor and president; and these two men are probably state of the art, at the present time, with regard to politics, including education politics, and which proposals might possibly get passed in the near future. I think public-private partnerships in education add value, but the public authorities have to take the lead in these matters. A good book on this dichotomy is "Superclass", by David Rothkopf: it gives a non-paranoid insider's account of meetings and interactions among leaders in public and private affairs that is very illuminating about the dangers we face in current public affairs.