Education

Developing the hybrid economy needed to move our country forward, will require educated workers, prepared for the 21st century marketplace. Developing alternative means of producing energy and producing the new technology that will make use of that energy will require researchers, technicians and scientists with levels of education superior to that of every other industrialized nation.

This is the demand placed on America's schools; it is the promise they must fulfill.

Four years ago, President Bush forced the unfounded mandate of No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) onto schools throughout our nation. Though Republicans consistently used schools as an example of States' rights, the Federal government was in the education business. Despite an incredible number of demands placed on schools, funding for compliance with the program has been consistently underpaid. As a result, nearly two and a half million students have lost the extra help they were promised.

Not only is NCLB an unfounded mandate, but it is an unsuccessful mandate. NCLB testing is based on a once yearly test, which results in half the school year being wasted with teachers, "teaching to the test", in an effort to ensure the school "passes" and receives funding. If the school fails, the school receives less money to improve, while stigmatizing children who are forced to excel in a one-shot deal.

NCLB is also stigmatized by the concept that has yielded its name. Bringing all children along at the same pace leaves little room for excellence. We must not seek to reward mediocrity. Instead, we must encourage children to learn as much as possible, not keeping children from being passed by, but ensuring that every child has an equal chance to excel. Rather than leaving any children behind, NCLB is forcing every child to be educated with the least challenging curriculum possible.

Currently, NCLB only require tests in reading and basic math. These are two concepts that are crucial to success, to be sure, but also hardly a representative sample of what our children are learning. Along with greater funding in the sciences that will be the future of our economy, history that will give them greater perspective on the world, our youngsters must also be educated as people, understanding the concepts of respect, freedom, creativity, sacrifice, charity, ethics and all the ethereal ideas that have served to make our country the "shining city on a hill" that it remains today.

As leaders, as parents and as educators, we will also prepare our children by preparing their schools. They must be fully funded and moreover, they must be staffed with the best and the brightest, teachers, well-paid and constantly monitored. Teachers must not feel like second-class citizens. They provide the cornerstones for every successful businessperson, doctor and lawyer in the country. They must be paid with that in mind, ensuring they provide our children with an education readying them for the challenges they face after graduating high school.

For those young Americans who graduate and wish to go to college, that choice should not be negated by a lack of tuition or money for books. A nation unwilling to sacrifice pork barrel federal buildings and parking lots must never cut the student loan program that are a lifeline for students desiring a chance to better themselves. I agree with the Democratic platform, a college education in the 21 st century should be as normal and available as a high school diploma was in the last century.

As each generation begins to take its place in the workforce, as our country's intellectual capital, the quality of education they receive in their formative years will enrich our entire nation. The right to an equal, effective education must not be taken from children by having public money pay for private schools to educate the most privileged children, with no oversight by the government over how our taxes are spent. As well, children from lesser wealth and income must never be forced to attend under-funded public schools that belie the egalitarian nature of our government, our Founding Fathers and our people.