Education Under The Obama Administration

"It is an object of vast magnitude that systems of education should be adopted and pursued which may not only diffuse a knowledge of the sciences but may implant in the minds of the American youth the principles of virtue and of liberty and inspire them with just and liberal ideas of government and with an inviolable attachment to their own country"--Noah Webster. On Education of Youth in America, 1790.

The goal of Noah Webster and the rest of the Founding Fathers was to provide schools and a system that would educate the children of our nation. The purpose of the schools was to educate children not only in the sciences but to teach them how important liberty and virtue were in their development and in the connection they have to their nation. The Founding Fathers, religious men, knew that virtue played an important role in one's education and that virtue was maintained only in a nation that understood the importance of freedom and liberty.

This has changed in modern America. One needs to simply walk the streets to see that virtue has become a thing of the past. As for liberty, it appears that more and more Americans are willing to fore go that little necessity for what they believe will be safety and security.

Since the beginning of the 20th century our education system has been deteriorating. We moved away from such things as the McGuffey reader and phonics. More importantly we have taken Civics and American history out of our schools. This has given us a population unfamiliar with the way our government is supposed run and is therefore detached from our older generations who constantly ask: What are they teaching in our schools? The answer to that question is--not a lot.

Over the decades we eliminated things like the McGuffey Readers and did away with diagramming a sentence and subjects like history and civics. History is now a hodgepodge known as social studies. It is a composite of history, geography, and cultures. Civics has simply been tossed out the window. In the process we have added programs in drug education and sex education. We have put the emphasis on math and science while history has been all but forgotten. Indeed, in time, history of any type will be eliminated.

It would be nice to be able to tell you that the dumbing down of the children of the nation is about to come to a halt under this new administration but that is not the case. While Mr. Obama made many hopeful statements pertaining to education during this campaign you must keep in mind that Saul Alinsky and Bill Ayers were influential on this issue. Indeed it was while Obama was serving as the first chairman of the Annenberg Challenge Education Initiative that he and Ayers became close associates. Both men believed that increased spending was the way to solve educaional issues


It was Ayers who would run the Annenberg Challenge Education Initiative, a program designed to improve inner city schools in Chicago. Obama, as chairman of the Board, funneled $150 million to Ayers who used it as he saw fit. Ayers spent the money on all the recent fads that came down the education pike. For five years he spent like a drunken sailor had no results showing improvement in the education of Chicago students.

Now we have Obama sitting in the most important seat in the land, the president of the country. What is he going to do about education? He is going to continue the destruction of our educational system. He started out by announcing that the scholarships or vouchers for inner DC black students were going to come to a halt. He stated that he was going to give the program a chance but cut it almost immediately. This program, that has black children standing in line for the scholarships because to get one meant a better education, will be eliminated once the current students graduate. Obama agreed to this solution after parents pressured him and this was the answer he gave them. Now keep in mind that Mr. Obama attended a private Catholic school and a state Islamic school before he went home to Hawaii. In Hawaii he also attended a private school. His daughters went to the costly University of Chicago Laboratory School--tuition ran as high as $20K a year. Now they are in the Sidwell Friends School--tuition starts at $28K--and it is one of the top elite schools in DC. Why wouldn't you want that for all of the kids in the USA?

Another way that we can improve education is offering merit pay for the best teachers. Teachers have been fighting for this for many years. However, the National Education Association will not allow merit pay unless they are the ones who determine who gets it. Obama told us that merit pay proposals would be "developed with teachers, not imposed on teachers." The NEA loves that because they will be doing the proposing. Keep in mind that this is actually a state not a federal issue yet it is going to be handled by the federal government and that will mean higher costs for everything dealing with merit pay and things like charter school.

Of all the matters associated with education it is the curriculum that must be restored. Reading, not all day kindergarten, must be a priority. In fact, those who teach K-3 should hold a BA in reading with at least 36 hours in their subject matter not a BA in education or in special education. The same holds true for those in secondary subjects in grades 6-12, the teachers should have their degree in their major and preferably an MA in the subject they teach. All the extra curricula needs to be eliminated. Standards should be high and the so called little things like spelling and penmanship should not be ignored. Civics and American history must be returned to the classrooms across this nation. It is our history that unites us. It is our story. It is what binds us together as a nation. This we must know, this we must understand.