Obama on Education

A couple weeks ago I complained that too many people use their time and energy to know about trivial matters like celebrity sightings, but not about hefty issues like Darfur, Iraq, or global warming. Last week Barack Obama came to Oregon and I promised to discuss specific policy issues and how his views led me to eventually support his campaign. So today I'm going live up to that promise and discuss education and personal responsibility, two fitting topics considering I plan to be a teacher in a little over a year.

A little background information is needed to understand the evolution of my presidential support. At the end of 2007 I was waffling between Bill Richardson (New Mexico's Governor) and John Edwards (former Senator from North Carolina). Richardson had the most comprehensive energy policy (renewables and efficiency) while Edwards spoke about taking on irresponsible corporations, addressing poverty, and, most importantly, personal responsibility. In the end I decided to support Richardson due to my belief that energy--production, use, pollution, etc--affects nearly all major issues. However, Edwards continued to impress me with his willingness to challenge Americans to do their part, work hard, and take responsibility for the success of the country rather than rely on the government for action. Far too often politicians want to say what they can give people rather than telling people that they must do.

Education policy reminds me of similar themes. Too often politicians say, "I'm going to give more money to schools" without addressing the hard truths that good teachers and the socio economic status of a student are better predictors of success than school funding. Not to say that fully-funding schools is not important--it certainly is--but filling schools with great teachers and making sure students are not living in poverty are far more important goals to achieve.

Below is a segment of a speech Barack Obama gave in Beaumont, TX. The first 2:45 deals with education policy and the remaining portion addresses parenting and personal responsibility. A few things to listen for:

1. After school and summer school programs are of utmost importance, especially for youth without good support at home.
2. Kids need parents!!!! No brainer, right? However, millions of children don't have food, shelter, homework support, are not being read to at night, etc. Good parenting--and this does not mean parents with lots of money, it means good parenting--has a significant correlation with a student's success in school.
   
3. Teaching to tests, as No Child Left Behind is causing our teachers to do, means we are not spending enough time on other important content (arts, civics, music, physical education, etc). Furthermore, tests should not be used as tools of punishment, rather they should be used to tell teachers what students know and what they need to work on.

If you only have a couple minutes, skip to the 2:45 mark, it demonstrates how Obama is willing to call people out on what many of them do not want to hear. I am inspired that he is willing to tell people that no matter what schools do, people (parents) must step up to the plate and make the system work.