I read Romney’s education agenda carefully.
It’s pro-privatization.
It repeats the myth of “failing” public schools.
There is not a good word in it for public education.
Romney is avid for charter schools and vouchers.
Here is the analysis of his agenda that I wrote for the New York Review of Books.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Readers ask me what they can do. Americans not only feel powerless, they are powerless. They cannot do anything. The highly concentrated, corporate-owned, government-subservient print and TV media are useless and no longer capable of performing the historic role of protecting our rights and holding government accountable….
Voting has no effect. President “Change” is worse than Bush/Cheney. As Jonathan Turley suggests, Obama is “the most disastrous president in our history.” Ron Paul is the only presidential candidate who stands up for the Constitution, but the majority of Americans are too unconcerned with the Constitution to appreciate him.
To expect salvation from an election is delusional. All you can do, if you are young enough, is to leave the country. The only future for Americans is a nightmare.”
Paul Craig Roberts
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He was awarded the Legion of Honor by French President Francois Mitterrand.
He has publicly commented he opposes national standards. Whether he’d get rid of Common Core, who knows.
someone should ask him if he support Common Core.
When conservatives support them, they say that are not national standards, even if they are.
Notice Jeb Bush supports them and he has persuaded ALEC to stay neutral–so far.
Is the President for Common Core?
Yes. Taking up the Common Core is the pre-requisite for those “NCLB Waivers” that are trumpeted in the media and by the current administration.
Here’s my take: It’s kind of like extortion. “We’ll release you from NCLB if you sign on to these national standards and give up local control of your curriculum. The national standards also open the door a little wider for privatization. Obama/Arne Duncan are apparently condoning this if not actively in support.
Virginia got a waiver and did NOT accept the CCSS. They convinced Duncan that their standards were just as or more rigorous. Mass is
known for excellent standards and they adopted the common core. Too many states caved in thinking they didn’t have a choice. Vermont said stuff your waiver. I don’t think Texas or Utah have accepted them either.
Mitt will support common core STATE (hahaha) standards.
Diane, I just watched the interview. Could you put up a new post so we can comment on that topic?
She was prepared with her material and you were unaware of what she would ask.
But because you are prepared, you answered every query solidly. It was so impressive to watch how quickly you came back with thorough responses. It was amazing to watch her continue to come back with follow-up questions, pursuing her storyline in spite of you having shot it down, time and again. She was clearly NOT interested in giving you airtime to describe privatization movement. And isn’t that the most telling of all? You articulated quite clearly (more than once) that there is an agenda of privatization using her Michigan story as your vehicle. SHE DID NOT ASK FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS ABOUT THAT. Either she is incredibly lacking in curiousity(a really bad thing for a reporter) or she is aware of the topic and they don’t want to give you the time to expand upon that issue for Saturday morning viewers to hear who might get curious about it. I am done with CNN.
“Allow Low Income And Special Needs Students To Choose Which School To Attend. Make Title I and IDEA funds portable so that eligible students can choose which school to attend and bring funding with them. This plan will allow the student to choose from any district or public charter school, or a private school where permitted by state law, or to use funds toward a tutoring provider or digital course.”
What about PL-94-142 which was signed into law by Gerald Ford in 1975? How do the parents of a special needs child know which school would be best for their child without the help from his/her neighborhood school?
“Only 2 percent of those who graduate from high school, get a full-time job, and wait until age 21 and get married before having children end up in poverty.”
This sentence is a rhetorical and mechanical train wreck. Who WRITES these things???
One who has been educated under NCLB mandates and tests.
Romney’s plan is disastrous, for sure. What I find especially sad though is that it is not all that different from Obama / Duncan. What can we do to urge a dramatic change of course by President Obama?
One of the most troubling parts of his agenda:
“Eliminate Unnecessary Certification Requirements That Discourage New Teachers. For instance, the federal “highly qualified teacher” requirement, while well-intentioned, only serves to reinforce hurdles that prevent talented individuals from entering the teaching profession in the first place.”
First of all, pretty much everything Romney has to say about education troubles me – and makes me angry! I teach high school, and he clearly doesn’t have any sense of reality.
Secondly, with regard to the above quote, I really don’t understand what he is talking about!! There are many, MANY people currently trying to earn their credential the “old-fashioned” way and then they’ll try to find a job. Several of my own friends have their credential and are looking for jobs! The only “hurdle” they are encountering is actually being able to find a job! He is CLUELESS.
I believe anyone who votes for Romney is a fool. I support President Obama but NOT his education policies. We need to re-elect him and keep letting him know what he should be doing when it comes to education.
Sadly, so many educators will try to “send Obama a message” by voting for other candidates (not Romney). In effect, they are going to sabotage education.
Romney’s supporters do not care one way or the other about anything but their own freedoms and paying less taxes. Public education is a government system–just another one that Romney’s supporters will always vote against.
So there will be no “message to Obama” in voting for anyone but Obama–the message will be: The people who care about preserving government systems are divided and therefore, Romney’s solid support system will get him elected. If he gets into office, say good-bye to public education.
At least with Obama, we may have a chance to keep vouchers out of the schools and keep certified and credentialed teachers in them. Obama will also provide aid for our struggling college students.
With Romney, there is no chance for public education. Yet, people who refuse to take up the burden of educating Obama just want to run to someone else with very little political clout (despite having great ideas). Not smart.
I also found the part about charter schools troubling. It seems to ignore all the research about charter schools not outperforming public schools. In fact the plan seems to ignore educational research altogether. Instead it quotes from the CATO institute and the partisan Nation At Risk as well as cherry picking PISA results without the necessary context. This makes me wonder if they put this little thought into all other areas. I am sure when he was making investments at Bain, Mr. Romney thoroughly researched all the statistics. Apparently he does not think that is necessary for the education of the country.
Mitt Romney is a pretty smart man. And he’s not the only smart, successful man who has said the same things about education. I’ve read his plan and it’s a good one.
It’s about parents knowing what is best for their children. It’s about school choice. Families are the consumers and they ought to have the right to choose the best education available for their children. If certain schools are chosen over other schools, then those mediocre schools can do what they need to improve.
Everybody criticizes public education. Everyone from the teachers to the parents and even the students, as well as politicians. The system is broken. Billions and billions of dollars gets poured into edcuation, and it’s still not fixed. Why not try Romney’s ideas. They just might work.
“I believe anyone who votes for Romney is a fool.” I believe the opposite, but I’m not going to try to convince you otherwise. But only this, why would you want to reelect someone who’s campaign has to tell “4 Pinocchio Lies” to try to fool people into voting for him again? His ads and his talking points have been shot down by even democrat based fact checkers, but he’s still telling the lies anyway. I don’t know, I’d rather vote for the financial and mangerial genius who’s running against him. The Obama administration is corrupt and incompetent.
Nice tongue in cheek post!!!
“Families are the consumers and they ought to have the right to choose the best education available for their children.”
Actually, no. The community is the consumer of public education not just families since ALL taxpayers in the community pay for it, not just parents. This is simple civics–it’s astounding how little some members of the general public including those who are seeking the top office in U.S. politics know about public systems. His ignorance about public systems, alone, is a reason not to vote for Romney. Just because he never chose to utilize most public systems doesn’t mean he should not understand who public systems serve.
Romney seeks to privatize public systems. This is never good for any community.
“But only this, why would you want to reelect someone who’s campaign has to tell “4 Pinocchio Lies” to try to fool people into voting for him again?”
Could you please elaborate on this with some actual facts?
This excerpt from responder “Jack” above: “[V]oting has no effect. President “Change” is worse than Bush/Cheney. As Jonathan Turley suggests, Obama is “the most disastrous president in our history.” Ron Paul is the only presidential candidate who stands up for the Constitution, but the majority of Americans are too unconcerned with the Constitution to appreciate him.”] Is this not an uncivil attack? I was surprised to see it in this comment section.
I am not a Romney supporter. But after reading your first paragraph, I just had to step in again. You continue to be in denial that our public schools failing our children is a myth. Let me give you just a few of the many datapoints I have on why you are missing the big picture here:
1. In 4th grade, American students scored above the international average in mathematics.
By 8th grade, they dropped below the international average, and by 12th grade, they
only outscored South Africa and Cyprus.
2. 6 out of 10 low-income fourth graders in the U.S. cannot do math at grade level.
3. In 2011, only 1 of 4 graduating seniors were prepared for college coursework.
4. 75% of high school seniors were unfamiliar with basic facts about American government
5. 30% of all public high school students in the US don’t graduate, and 32% of the 70%
that do graduate aren’t college-ready.
6. A U.S. high school student drops out every 26 seconds
7. More than a third of math teachers don’t have a degree in math.
8. 75% of US citizens ages of 17 to 24 are not qualified to join the military because they are
physically unfit, have criminal records, or don’t have a high enough level of education.
9. Spending per student has tripled since 1970 and doubled since 1980 but achievement levels have stayed the same
10. .66% of college graduates cannot reliably compare 2 editorials or compute the cost of purchasing office goods
The digital revolution has transformed the entire world, except public education which is mired in a system that hasn’t been fundamentally altered in more than a century!
This sounds like the talking points of one of the anti-public education organizations that are now so vocal in the media. Whose talking points were you quoting. This is such a mishmash of half-truths that I don’t have time to dissect it here. Read my next book. Or ask yourself, if our country and its education system were so dreadful, why are we the dominant economic, military, and technological country in the world? Given what you have stated, we should be equivalent to a third-world nation. Think about it.
I love your final statement tha “Restoring the promise of American education should mean rejuvenating public schools, not destroying them.” but I do not see how Obama and Duncan are not doing the same things in a slightly different way. Can you help me see a difference?
There is very little difference between Romney plan and Obama program, except for vouchers.
Our dominance is fading, Diane. You may choose to ignore it, but it is time to change our ways if we want our children “career-ready.” I have droves of stats that show that our innovation edge is at serious risk. I have no plans to read your book, thank you. Instead of the revolutionary slogan “Live Free or Die,” it should now read “Reinvent Public Education or Die.”
You say you have all these “facts,” and yet, when given the option to be even more enlightened than you clearly already are by reading Dr. Ravitch’s new book, you seem to scoff at the idea. Perhaps your perceptions about American public education are the problem.
That is very odd. I have a five-year-old grandson. I don’t want him to be career-ready. I want him to love learning. I want him to have a childhood. Do it to your own children.
Reinvent_ED: Sources, please. Otherwise, all you have is rhetoric.
It’s amazing when someone comes out with a list of “truths” and then when challenged, they refuse to debate. This tactic says a lot about the person’s credibility.
Oh…Diane….one more thing.
We are not falling over the cliff, just a steady decline. The problem with this kind of crisis is that you won’t see the crisis until it’s too late.
The sky is indeed falling, but not in the way you are describing, Henny Penny. Public education is being harmed by the pre-mature report of its demise, the “reform remedies” of which will surely kill it.
Where do you think Obama and Romney differ because in many respects, they want the same thing?
Btw, what did you think of the Bruni piece? I found it totally bias. Not one mention of the parents like Rita who are successfully fighting this legislation.