Stager-to-Go

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Why I'm Scared to Death About Obama's Education Policies

This is why (click to read article) despite contributing to his campaign and voting proudly for Barack Obama, I have trouble sleeping at night in anticipation of his education policies.

The only times I've heard Obama speak about education, he has called for merit pay, increased accountability, praised D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee (check out this fine article about her) In other words, President-Elect Obama (unless I am proven wrong) believes the same BS that drove NCLB and many of the other bad ideas oppressing children and teachers.

Here is an idea for President-Elect Obama...

The $29,000 per year Sidwell Friends School is a fine learning environment and institution with a proud history of excellence. His daughters will be very happy there.

President and First Lady Obama should study everything done at Sidwell Friends School and copy it in every school across America. If it's good enough for his daughters, it's good enough for the children they are leaving behind.

Here is a most stunning principle of the school the Obama children and Biden grandchildren will be attending:
(from Wikipedia) The school does not rank its students, as this conflicts with the Quaker Testimony of Equality.

What? Not ranking students??? No winners or losers? No AYP? Where is the accountability in that?

Perhaps there are other ways of identifying educational accomplishment?

You wouldn't think so if you listened to President-elect Obama speak about public education.

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3 Comments:

  • Hey Gary,
    Check out the point by point explanation of Obama's Education Plan. Perhaps that will quell some of your fears.

    This is what he says about NCLB:

    "Obama and Biden will reform NCLB, which starts by funding the law. Obama and Biden believe teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. They will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama and Biden will also improve NCLB's accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them."

    (emphasis mine)

    By Anonymous dsgran, At November 24, 2008 12:09 AM  

  • I wish I shared your optimisim. I remain cautiously optimistic.

    By Anonymous Gary, At December 5, 2008 8:32 PM  

  • I agree 100%. The Obamas could send a strong message to middle class families that public schools are a great choice.

    By Anonymous Rebecca, At December 8, 2008 11:47 AM  

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