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Diana from Cooksville, Tenn., submitted her question over the Internet. She recently lost her job and is having trouble finding health insurance.
In response, Rep. Dennis Kucinich talked about the bill he’s introduced to offer health care coverage to all Americans.
A member from the 1.4 million-member AFT teacher’s union asked, “What specific changes to the No Child Left Behind do you believe must be made?”
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called the legislation a huge imposition. “We need broader curriculum,” she said, and she called for a “total change” in education policy.
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Dear Payson and Dianna:
FDR’s noted in his ‘The Economic Bill of Rights’ for ‘The right to a good education’. The following is to address this objective.
The Education Reform Act is to empower the No Child Left Behind program. It is to be made available on a graduated scale of requirements as opposed to an all or nothing merit system. Most of all, the program should be considered paramount.
All education financing programs are to be scrutinized closely on an ongoing basis by Congress of private enterprise profits and conflicts of interests.
Moreover, communities should be empowered to develop the skills and abilities of their local youth such as in after school programs, tutoring where necessary, and other areas of focus that reinforce the sense of self esteem in the youth where attraction to gangs and frustrated groups of kids become less of an issue.
Education ranges from the very young to the aged. Funding priorities are proposed in the order of state assistance programs and larger grants and loans. Focus is to be on the following for US citizens:
* No Child Left Behind
* Vocational Grant Assistance Programs
* Higher Education
* Ongoing Education Programs
* Optional Education Programs such as for professional certification
How to pay for education:
Affording education must be a Federal and state funded initiative. Federal funding will be expanded significantly by way of tax exempt social welfare bonds for education. It is my view that any investment in the nation should be tax exempt. These bonds are to be purchased by institutional banks on Wall Street for improving future intellectual capital for both themselves and this country. Additionally, similar to the ‘People’s Health Care Bond’, the education bonds are to be available to the public at large.
Their maturity for redemption will be available within a K-12 and other education periods. This is to allow parents of students to make an investment in their child’s later education needs. They can be used as collateral for additional student loans if needed, or for living needs of students during their higher education period.
Availability:
Education is viewed differently by many. Some see it as a basic K-12, sometimes vocational, and then there is higher education and ongoing education. My late grandmother once said that there is ‘no excuse not to have an education if there is an available library’. Although quite dogmatic, in a way she was quite right. You can always go to the library, and now we also have the Internet.
A- Regarding Early Education:
If there were only the library or the Internet, disciplined learning skills would still be required in order to benefit.
These skills must be developed at a young age. Starting at a young age, we are confronted as consumers with an overbearing amount of distraction from advertising and television.
Combined with junk food, this causes a shrinking level of cognitive bandwidth for our young. By the time they are in the second grade their learning patterns or lack of them have been established.
Amongst these patterns are ADD ( Attention Deficit Disorder ), and ADHD ( Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ) Syndrome, where the more popular remedy is in the use of drugs.
In high schools, adolescents are required to put a full day in at their desk, where their bodies are distracting them. Due to lack of actual movement, or body exercise, the young become increasingly distracted. In urban school systems, teachers become behavior referees in contrast to their purpose as teachers.
Exercise is critical for the developing adolescent. Further, obesity has become an issue in our communities. A strong youth A- lowers the level of future health care issues; and B- works off excess energy that allows a student to focus on their studies.
If subjected to poor quality education, a student’s horizons are limited in what they see for themselves. Additional challenges placed on school systems are that at least 10% of the students need to learn English, and due to the rate of immigration we can assume in the next few years for this need to increase.
The ‘No Child Left Behind Act’ requires certain performance standards for community schools to be compliant with in order to obtain financial assistance. It’s a safe bet that many schools in our nation cannot currently qualify.
Community empowerment is required to bring schools to a standard where many are not capable of this. This is due to needing a jump start in the first place. In other words, even for the ‘No Child Left Behind Act’ to have value, education must overcome the inertia of circumstances that it must embrace to gain momentum.
The opt out plan of school vouchers is attractive for this reason if you feel your child might have a chance elsewhere.
The Early Education Strategy:
A.1- Pre-K
Pre-K is a critical period for children, as well as for the parents who need childcare while they work. Pre-K tuition can be as expensive as college tuition. This is especially true when parents have to leave their children for extended periods such as during a work day. Pre-K children are generally from young families, where working parents additionally have the challenge of new careers, and in making ends meet.
To rectify this, Pre-K learning centers will be able to obtain Federal funds for assistance directly based on number of children they are managing at a max capacity of 25 per learning center. States are required to provide the standards for the environment of the learning center, viable capacities for children in the location, and in pro-active learning practices. The learning center must be in compliance with this state standard for practicing pro-active learning skills for Pre-K children. Learning centers that accept such funds are not allowed to receive additional funds from parents.
A.2- No Child Left Behind
‘No Child Left Behind’ must become available on a graduated scale of requirements as opposed to an all or nothing merit system. This plan should be considered in education. This is to help jump start early education, where we must become pro-active about disciplined learning skills.
Communities can arrive at a level of empowerment which can be based on gradients of achievement. Where schools still fall behind, the responsibility must be on the State, and its representatives and senators in Congress to make their case as to what further is required to meet certain academic standards for full community empowerment.
A.3 -School Vouchers
School Vouchers have to be community based. There can be some communities with very well developed public school systems, and in other cases where there is a better offering from private schools. This must be addressed on a case by case bases, while the graduated scale of requirements for public schools overcome inertia. It is wrong for a child or young adult to have to be boat anchored where they can accelerate, and it is also wrong for other students to stagnate.
Every community, through its state representatives and Senators in Congress must make the case as to what best suits its needs. In some cases it might be only school vouchers, and in others none may be needed, and in others there could be a mix. This can be a very much a reality where the federal government itself cannot have a black and white policy of either/or.
A.4- Vocational Grant Assistance Programs
It is important to account for those who wish assistance in paying for vocational training. Young people starting from the age of 18 or as a high school graduate should be able to acquire loans and grants for vocational education programs and training services that are offered in the communities that they reside in.
Currently, educational loans are available, but their terms can be predatory. It is important that our federal government provide its fair share of assistance in this area. States should be able to match educational grant programs and facilitate additional loans as necessary.
A.5 - College and University Education
State colleges and universities are to be further funded on a per student basis. This is in order to lower school tuition and enable additional scholarships.
There will be the return of Pell Grants and making education affordable based on a person’s economies of scale. Tax deductions will be made applicable for student tuition. These tax deductions can be made by institutions, organizations, empowerment groups, and families. Regardless if a college student is of 18 years or older, those who demonstrate that they have contributed to the student in question can apply for such deductions.
A.6 - Ongoing Education Programs
Student grants for graduate school, law and medicine will be made available to help pay for tuition at state universities where it can be demonstrated that the student’s work is ‘for the good’.
A.7 - Optional Education Programs such as for professional certification
Below interest rate loans will be available for professionals who return to school to be certified in new tools related to their profession.
A.8 - For our Vets
Education for veterans will be free of charge, provided that the course of study is in preparation for a career, and they attend a public university or vocational school.
My commitment to you, sincerely,
Orion Karl Daley
Presidential Candidate for 2008
for the Strategic Future of our nation
Author - The New Deal ISBN: 1419670948
Balanced Party http://unity2008.org
New York, NY, USA -