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Politics : Al Gore vs George Bush: the moderate's perspective -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (4272)	11/1/2000 9:30:52 PM
From: Frank Griffin	Respond to of 10042

George W. Bush Issue Summary-Education Education is Governor Bush’s number one priority and he has a record to prove it. Governor Bush believes every child can learn and no child should be left behind. And he has an agenda to achieve it. Highlights of the Bush Education Record in Texas: Governor Bush has made education priority number one. He increased education spending by $8.3 billion, a 37 percent increase as Governor (per-pupil increase), including an across the board $3,000 teacher pay raise. Governor Bush has not only increased education spending, he has reformed the system. Governor Bush did this by: ending social promotion, creating tough, new accountability standards, empowering local school boards, ensuring that every Texas child read on at least grade level by the end of third grade, and creating charter schools. Governor Bush is closing the achievement gap. In a recent non-partisan federal report on education, Texas was cited as the only state that ensures measurement and accountability for the educational results of disadvantaged students. Under Governor Bush: Texas is first in the nation in improvement on test scores for all students, especially for African American and Hispanic students. Governor Bush’s Proposals: Governor Bush wants to redefine the relationship between the federal and state governments in improving education for all Americans. To achieve this, he will: Close the Achievement Gap between Disadvantaged Students and Others by replacing federal programs that do not boost achievement, empowering low-income parents of students stuck in persistently failing schools, and investing $5 billion over five years to conquer illiteracy with the “Reading First” Program. 2. Improve Early Learning by reforming Head Start to focus on school readiness. 3. Raise Standards Through Local Control & Accountability by giving schools more flexibility in the use of federal funds in exchange for testing student performance for results. 4. Expand Choice and Encourage Competition, including doubling the number of charter schools and e expanding education savings accounts to help parents save for their children’s education tax-free. 5. Ensure School Safety by prosecuting kids who carry guns to school and require states to demonstrate how school safety funds are being spent. 6. Restore Discipline & Promote Character Development with a new zero tolerance policy on disruption, by restoring teacher authority by protecting them from frivolous lawsuits. The Gore Attack on Governor Bush’s Record: “Under George W. Bush, Texas ranked 45th in SAT scores.” - Al Gore The Facts: The College Board says that comparing states’ rank in education based on SAT scores is “inherently unfair” because students self select whether to take the exam. The “most significant factor in interpreting SAT scores is…the participation rate, ” the College Board has stated. “In general, the higher the participation rate, the lower the average test scores.” Texas’ 50 percent SAT participation rate is 7 percent higher than the national average. Texas SAT scores have remained steady despite a 24% jump in overall participation and a 31% increase in minorities taking the test, a rate triple and twice the national average respectively (between 1994 and 1999). The Facts About Gore: After eight years of the Clinton-Gore administration, student test scores and the achievement gap fail to improve. Despite promising during the 1992 campaign to "reduce the education gap between rich and poor students," Clinton-Gore failed to boost student test scores. In 1996 alone, 68 percent of African-American fourth-graders scored below basic minimum standards on national math assessments. The achievement gap for poor and minority students remains wide, and the achievement gap for Hispanic 4th graders in reading has grown wider under Clinton-Gore.

To: epicure who wrote (4272)	11/2/2000 12:41:00 AM
From: Ben Wa	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10042

I am not being glib. I am being accurate. The concept of race is outdated. When individuals identify their own potential, in either socioeconomic potential, educational, or other with racial adjectives, they are showing that they haven't yet developed a mature sense of self. In other words, they are defining their identity in the words and deeds of others. I recently had dinner with a group of individuals who were 2nd generation Chinese here in the US. I asked if those who came from Taiwan got along with those from the mainland. They looked at me with consternation and said that they were Americans. That response is vastly different than someone saying they are African-American, Latino-American, etc. These people of Chinese ancestry had successfully made the transition to recognizing that the promise of America was that you have the freedom to develop your own identity and chase your own dreams. God bless' em - and by the way, they still know how to crack that hard shelled crab better than I ever will. btw, I was never a slave owner. Regardless of whatever rhetoric is created, I will never feel guilty about anything done that I had no control of over 150 years ago. However, I would like to own some slaves at the current time. In fact, my secretary is making out the proper application form right now and I believe it may be posted here tomarrow.

To: epicure who wrote (4272)	11/2/2000 10:31:42 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 10042

Perhaps if you'd been in the slave owning South A couple of challenges for you X: 1. Tell us the origin of the word "slave". 2. Tell us who sold slaves to the white operated slave ships? 3. Tell us whether blacks have ever enslaved other blacks. 4. Tell us whether you have ever seen, heard, or felt a racist thought or act against a person not of your race. 5. TELL US WHEN THE SONS/DAUGHTERS OF EVERY WHITE FAMILY WILL NO LONGER BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SINS OF THE GRANDFATHERS/MOTHERS OF A SELECT FEW WHITES WHO HELD SLAVES.... 6. And most of TELL US WHEN BLACKS WILL FINALLY REMOVE THIS "CHIP" OFF OF THEIR SHOULDERS, AND FINALLY REALIZE THAT EACH OF HAVE TO STAND ON OUR OWN MERIT, REGARDLESS OF OUR RACIAL HERITAGE X, I don't mean to be rude, but even a smart gal like yourself should know that when you try to put a guilt trip on someone they only wind up resenting you more. African-americans are POISONING there own spirituality and passing on misplaced resentment to their own children by continuing to play the "slave" card during a time they should be focusing on how to infuse positive values such as overcoming adversity and bettering there lives from generation to generation. This has the course that many races and ethinicities, whether Asian, Latin, Jews, Poles, Italians, Irish... etc, have followed. They ALL HAVE ISSUES in their pasts that could fuel some form of resentment towards another group of people, but they have focused on forgiveness and asserting their self-worth through POSITIVE reinforcement, not perpetual guilt trips. On a personal level: I have never held slaves. I have never met anyone who claims to hold slaves. No one in my past that I'm ever aware of ever held slaves. In fact, my father's family were dirt poor strawberry farmers from the backwoods of Arkansas who NEVER received a lick of support or sympathy from the Federal Government nor any black person. They received NO affirmative action, no food stamps, no ADP, no free cheese, milk. They never had a organization like a National Association for the Advancement of Dirt Poor Strawberry Farmers. I was the first child among all all my father's brothers and sisters to attend college. So don't preach to me about being economically disadvantaged. There is MORE THAN ENOUGH BLAME TO GO AROUND. But no one can change the past. All we can do is change the future and treat each other more decently than our ancestors did. Regards, Ron