Pet Pleasers: 2012 Republicans (Part 2)

As promised to my lovely sister in Florida, here is my take on the Republican presidential candidates for the 2012 Presidential election.  However, the problem I ran into was the vast amount of information about how each candidate stood on a dozen or more issues. My conclusion was that Republicans tend to agree on some core principles: abortion, taxes, foreign aid, etc. While we agree on many things the one issue that is close to my heart (and wallet! LOL) is education. As a parent I am scared that my daughter might have to attend public schools.  As a teacher I cringe EVERYDAY at how ill prepared our students are in areas such as math, reading and everyday life skills. I could tell you stories that would make your toes curl. That, however, is for another day and another blog.

So, as you may have guessed I decided to focus on one issue when making my decision on who I would vote for in February: EDUCATION. I went through the top republican’s official websites to read their stance on education. Below are my findings:

Newt Gingrich states that he wants to “dramatically shrink the Department of Education.” Hoo-Raw is all I have to say about that! He wants to restore the decision making to state and local communities. According to Gingrich, the DOE should only provide research and collect data for the states. My favorite thing about Gingrich’s plan is that he opposes any national curriculum standards. Yippee! Education is not a “one size fits all” system. What works in the industrialized North does not work in the agricultural South. Another aspect to this plan is parents. He believes that charter schools should be an open choice for parents. Overall I am in love with this education plan.

John Huntsman has an interesting plan with regards to education. He states that “school, their administrators, and their boards [should be] held accountable through data-driven measure of processes & achievement.” Hmmm…..not sure about this one. Let’s move on. Huntsman believes that if schools cannot meet Common Core benchmarks, they should not be awarded and may even face consequences such as restriction to federal resources.  So, if a school does bad it received less money to get resources to fix it? Geez! There goes the Bootheel! With the exception of St. Louis Dunklin & Pemiscot are the poorest counties in the state. We rely on that money to just get by. That of course (you guessed it!) is another topic altogether so I’ll get off that topic before I just plain go off. The one redeeming quality about this plan is the reality check approach. Huntsman states that graduates should be both “college” and “career” ready. Amen! And the best statement is: “We need to reevaluate our “at all costs” emphasis on higher education for everyone in an environment where that emphasis only disadvantages individuals in the long run.” Now THAT is what I am talking about! Finally, someone has the nerve to state the obvious truth: college isn’t for everyone.

Rick Santorum believes that the Federal Government should be limited in the area of education. He believes they should be in an oversight role such as helping with data and protecting children under IDEA (special ed stuff), etc. That is all good and well; the next part of his plan is where it starts to get hairy. Santorum states that Bush was on the mark about low expectation and graduation rates. Hmmm….okay, not sure about that one so we need to continue.  Next, he states that “parents & citizenry should hold schools accountable” and that “baby steps were taken in this direction in No Child Left Behind but it should have been initiated at the local level.” (at this point my big red light alarm starts going off in the distance)  Santorum does say that common core standards should not be forced on schools. Good! However, he goes on to back-hand-us by saying that “reforms [should be] focused on…attracting the best teachers to be competitive as a nation…rewarding excellence, innovation, and personalizing to the needs of individual students rather than government or unions.” While this is a vague statement at best, to me it smacks of teacher pay based on test performances, etc. That alone is a killer, even without his comment about No Child Left Behind, which has almost single handedly killed our education system as we know it. Again, that is another blog for a future date.

I could not find anything about education on Rick Perry or Mitt Romney’s website. This is upsetting, especially in regards to Romney. If he is going to be our nominee (which looks way since he just won NH) then he needs to have a stance on education. Period.  As much as I hate to even mention Ron Paul, he basically likes homeschooling and wants more advantages for people to have that choice. I think that is a great idea, but his overall political scheme just doesn’t work in this day and age nor for a country of this size. I am surprised he has been doing so well in the polls because his is WAY conservative.

So, my conclusion you ask? I’ll be honest and tell you that I was getting kind of excited about Rick Santorum. If I Gingrich isn’t going to get the nomination, then I was going to pull for Santorum. However, after reading his stance on education I am not so gung-ho about him. My favorite candidate by far is Gingrich. Not only his stance on education, but there is just something about him that I like. I get a good vibe I guess. I wish he hadn’t gone so negative against Romney. I really think that is hurting his campaign. L


I hope this has helped some of you in your voting decisions this year. Good Luck and God Bless America!


P.S. This cartoon sums it all up......enjoy: