Most political and policy “insiders” are of the belief that the Chicago Teachers Union won last month’s strike, and that Gov. Mitt Romney out-performed President Barack Obama when it came to education-focused comments during last week’s debate, a recent survey by Whiteboard Advisors has found, the Huffington Post reports. Nearly 30 percent of respondents — who include current and former senior staff from the U.S. Department of Education, White House, Congress and think tanks — felt that parents and students were the ones who really lost in the week-and-a-half-long Chicago teachers strike, while 62 percent believe the teachers union emerged victorious. Asked to respond to last Wednesday’s first presidential debate at the University of Denver, the majority of insiders awarded Romney a “B” for his comments on education, while Obama received a “C” rating. While most are of the opinion that the two candidates do not differ considerably on education policy, they suggest one area of bipartisan agreement…
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Is education a privilege for the elite?
In June, Mitt Romney told Virginians on the campaign trail that he wanted “to make sure that we keep America a place of opportunity…” the Huffington Post reports.
“…where everyone has a fair shot. They get as much education as they can afford and with their time they’re able to get and if they have a willingness to work hard and the right values, they ought to be able to provide for their family and have a shot of realizing their dreams.”
Except if everyone is to have “a fair shot,” then they likely need to get more education than they “can afford.” July 12, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, along with eight students, filed a lawsuit against the state and the Highland Park School District for failing to see that children were reading at their grade level……Read More
Mitt Romney’s plan to federalize education reform
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Fact check: Romney off on Obama’s love for unions
When Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney decried President Barack Obama as beholden to the nation’s teachers’ unions and unable to stand up for reform, he glossed over four years of a relationship that has been anything but cozy.
Obama has promoted initiatives that encourage districts to tie teacher evaluations to student performance and to expand the number of charter schools—actions the teacher unions have long been against, and which Romney himself promoted May 23 in a speech in Washington, D.C., outlining his education platform.
He also painted a bleak picture of a country where millions of kids are getting a “third-world education” and whose international standing has fallen far behind, an assertion frequently used by politicians and debated by academics, though the most recent tests show that U.S. student scores haven’t changed significantly and remain about average.…Read More