John Smith for Congress

Education

Although not expressly called out in the Constitution as a Right, it seems Criminal to me to deny our Children a proper education.

Close the Board of Education

K-12 Education should be built around the following 5 points.

Everything builds on the basics:

1. Reading
2. Writing
3. Arithmetic
4. Arts
5. Sports

Teachers Unions:

Currently in California, the Teachers Unions don't want any performance review of Teachers.

WHAT? Are they serious? Where can you get a job and NEVER have a evaluation? Where can you have almost a 30% Failure rate and never be questioned?

California School System is were.

Now there are Great Teachers/ Administrators, Good Teachers/ Administrators and Poor Teachers /Administrators.  Everyone knows who the Good and the Bad ones are but NO ONE does anything.  Your Children's education is being held hostage to a Union.   The Teachers by not speaking out and getting control of THEIR Union are accomplices my Omission.

Now I know I'll never get the Union Support for such a Statement, but I should get it from the Teachers.  If they actually care and want to reform the system they must be active.

I'll work to repeal "No Student Left Behind" and work to get our Education system in California Back on course. Our children deserve no less.

Reasoning:

The Board of Education in Washington D.C.  Should be closed immediately.  This 160 BILLION dollar a year waste of tax payer money.

School systems should be regulated at a state and local level.  Parents should be responsible for holding the teachers accountable for the education of their children.  By giving power back to the local citizens to discuss and curriculums within the community, the Parents will be empowered and an increase in the overall Education of that community.  Teachers are responsible to the Parents of the Students, not a Union.  Third party arbitration for removal of poor teachers and bonuses for good ones.

1. Reading:

If our children can't read and comprehend, how can they maintain their Freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution? We must go back to Phonics or other proven system of teaching our children to read.  Stop wasting money on Consultants, fad teaching plans, or the Super Secret Send Money Now plans.

As this is America and English in one of the most used languages in the World, we need to only teach English (other languages should only be elective or after school programs). When our children Graduate, who will they be competing with in the work place? Global Economy? Out sourced jobs? If they plan on working in America and being competitive they must be able to read English.

2. Writing:

We must return to using Proper English. If you cannot convey your thoughts, or your spelling and grammar are poor they reflect not only on you, but your teachers and parents.  Your Teachers for not teaching and your Parents for not caring.  I don't know another way to stress this important point.

NOTE: I am guilt of rushing to publish articles and am working to improve my Language skills. Feel free to point out mistakes on my contact page.

Arithmetic:

Children must be taught the Theory of Math.  If someone knows the Theory they will be able to figure out ANY problem, wither it be a standardized test or other method to ensure the student possesses the needed skills to advance. To many times I've had to wait on getting change because the person at the Cash Register cannot do simple math.

Arts:

Music, painting, poetry, philosophy and other arts should be stressed as studies have shown they assist a developing mind to think clearly and freely.  We waste an enormous amount of resources that could be better directed to

Sports:

I played several sports in High School and learned valuable lessons on Team Work. We can use these programs to foster interactions with our peers.  Sadly some schools spend more on Football Stadiums and grounds upkeep than on school supplies.