As most of us know, it is easier for people in the audience to quickly come up with brilliant responses than it is for the person being interviewed or the candidate up on the debate stage. I’ve never been a contestant on Jeopardy or any other game show, but my guess is that, not infrequently, some contestants miss out on answers they would have known were they watching the show in the comfort of their living rooms. In other words, being a great back-seat-driver is easier than actually driving.
Having admitted that, I have done a fair bit of cringing at the words of Republican candidates I admire. To be fair, most interviews and many Republican debates are staged by a media hoping to make conservative candidates sound foolish or evil, preferably both. The questions are phrased and the time allotted to help achieve that result. Knowing that, the candidates need to prepare ways to get around the handicap.
One recent example that resonates with me is several candidates’ calls to eliminate the Department of Education as an example of where budgets can be slashed. You know and I know that scads of money is given to education in this country with pathetic results. The system is designed to enrich a few top echelon bureaucrats and pander to political bases, not to care for children. You and I know that thousands of parents try to get their children into charter school slots that are severely limited. You and I know that political correctness, union rules and other policies protect and promote criminal and incompetent teachers while penalizing those who could unlock students’ minds and help them to achieve greatness. Yet, even for those parents desperate to get their children out of failing schools there is a disconnect between their desperation and political parties. When they hear calls to eliminate the Department of Education, they believe that means ignoring, not helping, their children. The phrase without explanation is toxic. With explanations and vivid, heart-rending examples of children trapped in dangerous places and the prison of illiteracy, it could truly improve the lives of many and the health of our nation.
Eliminating the Department of Education in order to save money is easily seen in the public’s mind as an act of cold, ice-blooded indifference to the lives of young children, particularly minorities. In reality, it could be the greatest gift this generation’s poor and underprivileged children could get. Same action; different word picture. I’m not up on the stage, I’m just a back-seat-driver. Nevertheless, someone in the driver’s seat needs to study the map before getting behind the wheel.
Thank you for the enlightening post. I became a supporter of ending the DoE several years ago. I was so surprised when I first learned that it had only come into being within my own lifetime. I was floored to think how quickly we fell for the assumption (where did that come from, anyway?) that it had always been there. That alone made me more suspicious of it, too.
I appreciate your point about how this comes across. I had never considered this. But it also kind of wearies me that people think children will suffer somehow without more money, or the DoE, or whatever. It’s not like their lives will suddenly turn into a Dickens novel or something. Well, they think children who don’t go to preschool suffer, so I guess we’ve become so institutionalized in our thinking as a society that seeing the truth is very difficult.
Bravo! Your penetrating intellect once again pierces the webs of deceit that surround a Government ponzi scheme. The Department of Education feeds and is supported by a toxic swill of Teachers’ Union bureaucrats who would replace ironclad arithmetic with ‘fuzzy’ math and inject political indoctrination into curriculum under the cloak of equality and human decency. The mindless standards imposed would serve the insidious purposes of the Ruling Progressive Elite. Haven’t we had enough of Woodrow Wilson-esque education already, whereby the masses are not encouraged to be independent men of letters or of character, but passive automatons educated just enough to perform their subservient factory roles, yet not smart or motivated enough to question or to challenge their supervisors? The Teachers’ Union will undoubtedly support the Wilson-esque Progressive element that would lead us all like lemmings over the cliffs of socialism to national suicide.
I hadn’t heard of those memos. Thanks.
I’m not the greatest salesperson, but in dealing with the Department of Education, candidates should point out how the DoE puts a stranglehold on good teachers, imposing micromanagement that drives the best out of education and into private industry (corporate training, tutoring, etc.) where they are provided the freedom to teach using methods that work and are amply rewarded for their efforts. I worked with a middle-school teacher who mentioned that every week he had to weed through a 35 page “memo” that detailed new rules the DoE imposed, or contained convoluted explanations of the rules already in place that were completely incomprehensible prior to the memo. Teachers’ unions may be funding the Sanders campaign, but the rank and file teacher tends to lean right. An appeal to their interests could sway a lot more parents, as they share a common interest and goal.
Wonderful news – blessing for a healthy pregnancy and delivery. We just did an international theme for our family Purim seuda (16 children under 13, some grandchildren and some niece’s children) and of course the games I created for the party were educational. We all had a blast. It was based on the idea that Achashveirosh from the scroll of Esther ruled over 127 states and provinces.
I did see that movie and wish everyone would.
It is a good thing that some liberals in Hollywood have known that we need an overhaul to change the DoE. Do you recall the movie, “WAITING FOR SUPERMAN”? I am not certain how many minorities pay any attention to the departments within the government’s executive Branch, or even whether they know how the government ought to function in this country. But, I suppose, there could be enough of them outraged by this issue to make a voting difference. Maybe we should urge our candidates to begin discussing DoE with references to this Hollywood movie.
Once again you are spot on. We are both retired(?) homeschool moms so we know that for a child to learn, dollars are not the most important component. Education in America is a sinking ship and it has been listing to one side for many years. Most people wrongly assume that the Dept of Ed has been there for ever. When shown that children were being educated very well prior to the federal governments involvement in our schools, it is usually an eye opener. Ok, I confess. Once a homeschool mom always a homeschool mom! I’m teaching my almost 4 year old granddaughter phonics! And Susan, I found out on Sunday that my fourth grandchild will be here in September! WooWho!