Wednesday, April 14, 2010

I Decide To Build A Bridge Across The Partisan Divide That Threatens To Engulf This Nation.

Because people that know me, they know that I'm a pretty non-partisan kinda guy, willing to reach across the figurative aisle and work with those on the other side that have good ideas for the benefit of this nation.

It's just that I've never really found anyone on that other side that had any good ideas. Until now.

I'll set this up with a kind of blog post mash up kinda thing combining an article I came across in my daily news surf with a report from the Heritage Foundation, a group I may have at one time called "The shoehorn responsible for shoving the policies of the corporate right wing of this country up the ass of the rest of us without even so much as the courtesy of lube"

I might have said that. But that was in the past, and this is a new day. here we go:

Ground was broken Tuesday on the latest "shovel ready" project on the Peninsula, with construction starting on a $6,675,000 classroom at the Naval Postgraduate School.
Debates about how to improve public education in America often focus on whether government should spend more on education. Federal and state policymakers proposing new education programs often base their arguments on the need to provide more resources to schools to improve opportunities for students.
The 6,000-square-foot, two-story structure next to Ingersoll Hall on the campus will house classes for the NPS School of Business and Public Policy, and will release 12,000 square feet of space for other campus departments, Dausen said.
While this view may be commonly held, policymakers and citizens should question whether historical evidence and academic research actually support it. This paper addresses two important questions:
How much does the United States spend on public education?
What does the evidence show about the relationship between public education spending and students' academic achievement?
The answers to these questions should inform federal and state policy debates about how best to improve education.

Keep talking Heritage Foundation. You have my full attention.

What Federal and State Policymakers Should Do:
Federal and state policymakers should resist proposals to increase funding for public education. Historical trends and other evidence suggest that simply increasing funding for public elementary and secondary education has not led to corresponding improvement in academic achievement. Instead of simply increasing funding for education, policymakers and school leaders should implement education reforms that improve resource allocation.
(Congressman Sam Farr, in whose district the Naval Postgraduate School lies) said the classroom building is "shovel-ready — and they are gold shovels!" before taking one of several gold-painted shovels for the groundbreaking ceremony.
The school, Farr said, is more than a postgraduate school; it is a federal research institute charged with "researching the future"

A research institute huh? Hmmmm.....I've got a research project for them then.

Subject the education of the future Thugs of the Empire to the same fiscal constraints we are currently forcing upon the civilian education system. Because my friends at the Heritage Foundation seem to think it would have no measurable effect on their performance. What a wonderful opportunity for them to be proven right. I'm sure they are just as excited about my proposed project as I am.

Unless they're full of shit that is.

Looks like I just forced a group of Republicans to agree with me or admit they are full of shit. Wow. I should have started this bipartisan stuff a long time ago. So many children stand to benefit.

2 comments:

Madam Z said...

I volunteer as a tutor in a local elementary school. I don't know who is responsible for the teaching agenda and methods, but it is ridiculous. The kids are expected to learn at ever-increasing levels of complexity, when they have not even mastered the most basic skills. For instance, the third-graders are being subjected to basic geometry and pre-algebraic word problems, when they can't even add and subtract without counting on their fingers! About three-fourths of the class has absolutely no idea what the teacher is talking about. Would spending more money on public schools help this situation? Granted, the school is in a "poor" neighborhood, but the physical facilities are adequate. I suspect that much of the problem lies in the chaotic home life that many of them have. And they all spend way too much time in front of the TV. But I feel that much of the problem lies with shoving too advanced material down their throats before they're ready for it. Many of them get discouraged and give up, by the time they're eight years old. Would more money help that?

Tonina said...

I laughed and laughed and laughed at this post. And then I cried, because both of my parents worked in education. I have a child who is just about ready to enter the disaster area that is public education today. I can't tell you how afraid I am for him.

More standardized testing and test-related teaching! Less funding! Full steam ahead!

Dear God.