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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bread Upon The Water who wrote (245929)	2/28/2014 6:27:46 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542131

"What is the alternative plan the Democrats can sell to the electorate to insure they get a good education?" Good public schools. "Paying for private school means poorer students will be excluded from them." What is the alternative plan the conservatives can sell to the private sector to insure they get a good education? Something like the Walmart 100,000 Poor Kids' Private School Scholarship Foundation.

To: Bread Upon The Water who wrote (245929)	3/1/2014 2:19:45 AM
From: bentway	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 542131

"What is the alternative plan the Democrats can sell to the electorate to insure they get a good education?" Epicure might have a better answer, but I have no idea. Due to our multicultural population with vast income differences, we face problems most more homogeneous countries don't. Things that work in such countries don't translate well here. I don't see private school vouchers as any sort of answer. I lay the blame on flat to declining incomes for working people since Reagan, and the social fallout from that. We teach just as we always have - so, it's some other factor that's changed. Ann Romney might be able to be a stay-at-home mom, but most mom's can't do that anymore. ============================================================================ U.S. Falls In World Education Rankings, Rated 'Average' huffingtonpost.com Ed. Clarification: HuffPost Education originally reported that the United States was ranked 14th by the OECD. That figure is the nation's ranking in reading skills, not the overall ranking of the country. The United States has fallen to "average" in international education rankings released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, according to the AFP. America has received scores around 500 on a scale that goes up to 1,000: 487 in math, 500 in reading and 502 in science. The AFP reports, The three-yearly OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, which compares the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in 70 countries around the world, ranked the United States 14th out of 34 OECD countries for reading skills, 17th for science and a below-average 25th for mathematics. Citing concerns over the country's education performance compared to other nations, and the long-term impact of the shortcomings on the future economic viability of the country, the Obama Administration has pushed for comprehensive reforms during the president's time in office. According to the AP, "This is an absolute wake-up call for America," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in an interview with The Associated Press. "The results are extraordinarily challenging to us and we have to deal with the brutal truth. We have to get much more serious about investing in education."