Refplace

My Thoughts on Education

A good education is a key part of a successful life.  Studies show that educated people tend to be better employees.  There is a reason education is on every job application or resume and few jobs wont hire someone without a High School Diploma or GED.

Higher paying jobs tend to have higher education requirements and  as automation increases manufacturing jobs will continue to decrease.

Public, Charter, Private and Home schooling

I approve of a variety of education options, however if I am asked to pay for it as a taxpayer I want accountability.  Also vouchers wont be enough to pay for private schooling so poor and many middle class wont be able to afford that option.  It is only a choice if you can actually do it.

So I oppose ideas that take money out of public schools and give it to private corporations.

Department of Education (ED)

Founded under President Jimmy Carter in 1979 the ED has had a contentious run and is currently one of the targets of the republican administration and Conservatives.

Most of the revenue for public schools comes from local government in the form of property taxes. I feel that most of the control should therefore be local.  Should the federal government tell a local municipality how to run their school?  I dont think so, however parents deserve to be able to make informed choices about their kids education.  Likewise companies should be able to measure and know about the local education system so they can more easily figure if local employees will be suitable.

What I want to see is the ED go from a funding and regulatory agency trying to tell local schools how to work to a watchdog organization.  Any city or town can run the public schools as they see fit but the ED shows test results, graduation stats and how many people find employment after graduation.

This allows everyone to see whats going on and parents to make informed choices but keep local control.  Another very important benefit is that schools around the country can see how everyone else works and possibly adopt improved methods.

College

The far left would like free tuition.  I am not sold on that myself, especially coming from a blue collar background. I do not feel colleges offer good value for their cost so am not inclined to pay for them as a taxpayer. However we do need monitoring of them.  Universities should not be able to take money and offer no value in return,  These kinds of frauds should result in jail time, not just fines.

Things like Trump University should not be allowed to occur and nither should schools behave like Baylor and get away with that kind of rape culture supported by the administration.