Republicans on Education

Here is Part One in my series of posts on the beliefs of major political parties. This blog focuses on the Republican Platform on Education, as taken from the official GOP website.

PLATFORM:

Education is needed in order to allow children to reach their full potential and compete on a global scale. It is a "parental right, a state and local responsibility, and a national strategic interest." Parents should be allowed to determine what sort of education their children receive. Consequently, parents should be allowed to pull their children out of failing schools and put them in better schools. If that means transferring the students to religious or parochial schools, then the federal government should give parents vouchers to help cover the cost of that education. Home-schooling is also an option that the Republican Party endorses and supports. Sex education in schools should be replaced with abstinence programs, which teach "the responsible and expected standard of behavior."

Pre-school is an important part of early childhood education. Head Start, the government-funded preschool, needs to receive more funding and be reorganized in order to be functional. Pre-K programs should focus on literacy and social skills needed in future education.

Too long have the subjects of mathematics, science, technology, and engineering been under-emphasized in the high school curriculum. Students must be provided with the best teachers possible, who will be rewarded with higher pay for their excellent service.

The financial aid application process must be simplified by a presidential commission. We applaud the "public-private partnership" that provides student loans to students and their families.

MY CRITIQUE:

I have no idea why education is a "parental right" instead of simply a right. The idea of pulling children out of failing schools my sound like a good idea, but if students are pulled out of public schools in droves and put into private school, then many public schools will stand empty as private schools are overcrowded. I would like to note that this happened when white parents pulled their children out of public schools during integration. Oh, and where is the government going to get the money to pay for children to attend private school? Are taxpayers going to pay for other people's children to be educated the way their parents want them to be?

We can all see how well abstinence-only sex education has worked wonder on America. Just look at Alaska; Sarah Palin made Abstinence programs the only sex ed available in schools there, and everyone knows that SHE doesn't know any pregnant teenagers...wait....

I don't understand the idea that all teachers need to be the "best" teachers. Does that mean the top 10% of Education majors? Does it mean we need to improve training for teachers?

Overall, I think the platform is feasible, but could use be more detailed. Individual candidates are more specific with their goals.