Is our education system today as perfect as it can be? Not at all, but that’s definitely a goal in today’s society. It’s no surprise that our schools are pretty meh, that is, some are adequate, and others are just plain bad. This is the reason why educational reform is a big topic in modern politics, and why some fight for this more than anything, because the general consensus is that it needs help. Some argue that schools are unable to get any better than this, and have education reform as a low priority, others as a very high priority.
Naturally, the two biggest contenders in this argument, like most issues, are the democrats and the republicans. The majority of their opinions are vastly different, but there are some that are actually pretty similar. Democrats, when it comes to the topic of education, have varying opinions, such as them saying “We support policies which stimulate the creation of new, accountable public schools and which simultaneously close down failing schools” (Democrats for Education Reform). Democrats are basically in favor of creating great schools, and at the same time dismantling those with a bad educational system, or those with a corrupt school system. They also “support mechanisms that allow parents to select excellent schools for their children, and where education dollars follow each child to their school.” (Democrats for Education Reform). This would allow for better financial control of the money you are giving the school, to help prevents wasteful spending, and to ensure that people aren’t going to “steal” this money. In summary, Democrats prefer policies that help control the finance within the public schools, and at the same time supports public schools and wishes for them to be good, strong schools and get rid of those schools that have a poor foundation and financial situation. This may seem like they want others to control the school rather than the total school system, but as stated, they also want clear and precise standards, but also believe the teachers and school system should regulate those and teach as they see fit. As far as religion is schools go, democrats introduced a bill this year to better protect students in school from religion and religious discrimination (Goddiscussion), meaning they believe schools should not teach or enforce religion upon it’s students at all, as they want all students and their beliefs to be protected and not have other religions enforced on them.
Republicans naturally have their own opinions on what should become of education, and it’s actually a pretty high priority for them. Their decisions on what should be done about reformation includes them supporting “school choice and homeschooling” (On the Issues). Republicans are generally more supportive of alternatives for public schooling, these include homeschooling and private schooling, something the democrats don’t really support as much as good public schooling. A big issue in education today is the opinion on whether or not religion belongs in schools, and as far as republicans go, they “Support voluntary student-initiated prayer in school” (On the issues), meaning they don’t believe teachers should teach a certain religion within public schools, but they support self prayer from the students, as not to suppress their beliefs, but not to enforce them either. A strong advocator of education reform Is Joe Biden, who is currently the vice president and has several opinions of his own of what she be done, he did not support “No Child Left Behind”, and loaned out a $30 billion plan to better finance education over five years.
Despite these two different views on educational reform, it’s obvious that education is an important topic within politics, and either of these platforms has some great ideas on what is needed in the current flawed system, and hopefully one day this will occur, and it will (hopefully) be successful.
Works Cited
"Democrats Introduce New Bill." Http://www.goddiscussion.com/33500/democrats-introduce-bill-to-protect-students-from-religious-discrimination/. 15 Oct. 2010. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.goddiscussion.com/33500/democrats-introduce-bill-to-protect-students-from-religious-discrimination/>.
"Democrats on Education." Democrats for Education Reform. . Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.dfer.org/about/standfor/>.
"Joe Biden on Education." OnTheIssues.org - Candidates on the Issues. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.ontheissues.org/Education.htm#Republican_Party>.
"Republican Party on Education." OnTheIssues.org - Candidates on the Issues. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.ontheissues.org/republican_party.htm>.
I'm surprised I'm the first to comment on this paper- it's really well written and informative. Lots of details on the positions, which is always great. You profiled the parties very thoroughly. I found it especially interesting that the Republicans so strongly support public school alternatives- I had known that they didn't support much funding, but I didn't know they opposed the institution itself. I guess that just suprised me since my parents are Republican but there was never any doubt of me going to public school- homeschooling and private schools were really never even considered.
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