"

I also work to save our schools from D.C. interference. Thanks to the feds, new curriculums not only smear the Founders as "racist, slave-owning elitists," they seek to dumb down our students so they will all be equal.

"Look-say" reading and the abolition of phonics has the same purpose, and so does the new "fuzzy" math, in which there are no right and no wrong answers."

I agree that Federal control may lead to garbage like "No Child Left Behind." But without Federal control, and every state free to teach whatever they want, whenever they want, we could have situations where one state's students are held behind in certain fields because the state legislature doesn't want them taught in school for religious or political reasons. 

And before you say "well, concerned parents can always move," moving is a massive expense that not everyone can commit to. And before you say "well, they can always send their kids to private school," no, not every parent can afford that, either. Especially if the voucher program is tossed out along with federal oversight.

I'm in favor of control as long as the control produces good results. Right now we're not getting good results because the system's been run by people with ulterior motives and a poor understanding of how to best prepare our students for the future. But if we could get that system working well, I doubt anyone could honestly speak against it.

J 

by J. Edward Tremlett (24 articles, 0 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 380 comments [54 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Sep 3, 2007 at 8:59:26 AM

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If those who have taken the media can't be trusted to use them honestly, then take the media away from them.

And if 'the leaders' can't be trusted to run the country properly, then take the country away from them.

But when they are using both to endanger the whole world, then take them away from them, and take them away from them NOW!

What the devil are you Americans hanging about for?

by Geraldo (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 105 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Sep 3, 2007 at 12:20:24 PM

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The states have been running their schools for years without any problems. The states are very aware of their education standards and none of them want to be "last". A quick example, Utah stop taking federal funding for education because the federal "curriculum" was not up to the states standards. Oversight is good only when it inspires education to be better. Oversight is bad when it does not progress quickly enough and is not held to high enough standards. If you make education too difficult, then everyone can't be equal, at least at first.

Another thing. If we abolish the income tax and various forms of property tax and capital gains then people could afford to send their children to private schools. Look at 20/20's report on "stupid in America" and you'll the department of education/union machine at work.

by Michael Twain (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 22 comments) on Monday, Sep 3, 2007 at 1:00:33 PM

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It would be helpful to put this Ron Paul speech in context. The "dateline" implies that it was given recently. Actually, it was a congressional speech from 1997 that can be found at The Congressional Record, Vol. 145, No. 83 6/14/99.

by William Westmiller (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 10 comments) on Monday, Sep 3, 2007 at 3:11:41 PM

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"We would have no welfare for big corporations, or the 'poor'"

See how Paul puts "poor" in quotes?  What does that mean?  He didn't put "big corporations" in quotes.

Does this mean that Paul doesn't believe America has any poor people?

Maybe we should ask Mr. Paul about this.  Maybe he'd tell us someone else wrote that for him.  He has, after all, used that excuse before.

by Bob Kincaid (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 47 comments) on Monday, Sep 3, 2007 at 3:26:59 PM

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What's with all the sleazy, cheap digs, Bob? Can't you tackle his ideas in an above-board manner? Now, as to your question (though I'm sure you would have preferred it to remain rhetorical) about the use of quotation marks around "poor", I certainly can't speak for Congressman Paul, but I can tell you this: I am from WV, a state that by all measures is considered very 'poor'. We are often the butt of jokes because of it. We also have a relatively large number of people who rely on government assistance (ie. 'welfare'). Still, there are many people here on governmental assistance who are in fact less 'poor' in a monetary sense many of those who work and refuse government welfare. I don't know why you would want to prop up a failing entitlement system that kills the human spirit, removes all motivation to better one's position in life through hard work, and traps people in a lifelong cycle of poverty and dependence on government. Maybe you just haven't seen enough of what welfare actually does to people and communities. From my experience, most 'progressives' usually haven't. Sitting in a comfy university classroom somewhere, using armed government goons to force the successful to pay for the impotent probably sounds like a good idea. Out here in the trailer parks and dying towns, though, reality sets in.

by Roger Kent (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 14 comments) on Monday, Sep 3, 2007 at 7:56:57 PM

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Ron Paul seems like an elitist and has totalitarian tendencies. He seems to want to take America backwards to the time when white people owned black people and only white male property owners could vote. After all he claims we were a free country back then. I want America to improve not regress to where we were before the civil war. A lot of what he says is true but he says a lot of crap also.

Vote For Dennis Kucinich. He's the only one who is honest and doesn't feed you propaganda and disinformation. Kucinich speaks from his heart.

http://www2.kucinich.us

by Ty (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 888 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Sep 3, 2007 at 10:50:03 PM

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Your comment here is utterly laughable.

by Roger Kent (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 14 comments) on Tuesday, Sep 4, 2007 at 12:08:12 AM

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Er... That should read, "...but you don't have to tell lies about Ron Paul just to try to convince us to vote for Kucinich."

by Roger Kent (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 14 comments) on Tuesday, Sep 4, 2007 at 12:12:01 AM

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