NCLB isn't bad enough! Bush adds MORE? MUST READ!!!

[ray of light]

The story can't be copied in here. You have to read it at the link. Please post what YOU think about Bush's latest plan with education. (Though I personally think he's a fine example of education failures not even THIS plan would help him out...)

http://www.progressiveu.org/180105-have-standardized-tests-done-so-much-good-that-we-need-to-force-them-on-our-college-students-as-well Please post. (a kick and rec would be appreciated too.)


(Maybe we need to start an education fund for Bush. And in my opinion, even though Bush has thrown this out, we have to keep the focus on their illegal activities--the NSA spying, the illegal (warrantless wiretaps), the leak of Valerie Plames name, AND we have to bust our guts getting out where we live and getting progressives elected at every level. LET'S get progressives elected who will run FAIR elections at every level--local, state, and national!

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. It'll never fly.

It's a fundamentally unworkable idea and nothing more than a sop to his anti-education hoochies.

[salin]

2. I have heard small murmurs about this

and wouldn't dismiss the efforts too quickly. Like NCLB it is a policy couched as one thing but that is another altogether. The couching plays to the concern that many entering college are not really prepared for the work and that a whole lot of $ gets spent on remedial writing/math programs; this type of argument has an appeal to some in the Us who are growing frustrated with the underpreparation of some entering students. But the real thing is that while it might get support on that front, that isn't what it is about - or at least the policy level allusion I heard about it - this is about testing while at college and throughout college which is ludicrous given the differing natures of course work at different colleges and within colleges in different majors. What in the world is there that is standard to test?

[formercia]

3. The courses wind up being like a SAT prep course.

It's already happening. Teachers are focusing on material relevant to the tests. All this will do is stifle creative thought.

[RC]

5. And dat's da hole idea.

To stifle creative thought. To articulate seamlessly our dumbed down vouchered school system into our Advanced learning system.

[ray of light]

15. and to give businesses more money. I'm sure friends and family

own stock in this. I believe Jeb Bush owns stock in one such company.

[formercia]

17. Neil Bush and Ignite

http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2001/02/19/story1.html

From the February 16, 2001 print edition
Neil Bush ignites education software firm
Amanda Bronstad
Austin Business Journal Staff

George W. Bush may have left Austin amid much fanfare, but the president's younger brother quietly is heading a local startup that's raising at least $10 million in second-round funding.


Neil Bush's Ignite! Inc., which develops educational software, is hoping to raise a second round in the near future, says Pamela Richardson, chief operating and strategic officer for Ignite! The company raised more than $5 million in first-round funding last year, she says.

[ray of light]

18. thank you! can you post it there? you don't have to register to post.

[ClintonTyree]

6. Exactly........

just like bush's program in Texas, the students and teachers became obsessed with "passing the test" and other, more important educational requirements were simply ignored. Their entire education consisted of studying for "the test". It failed the students of Texas miserably.

[liberal N proud]

4. Will universities and colleges stand for this?

Will they lay down and allow their education system to be destroyed?

[ClintonTyree]

7. I sincerely doubt it.......

most institutions of higher learning are loathe to change, especially something as dubious as this. Remember, they're MUCH SMARTER than the bushies and can see through something like this a mile away.

[ray of light]

8. it's going to end up kicking out the kids from college

and forcing them to join the military.

[ray of light]

23. universitys have to abide to get federal funded dollars including

scholarships, loans, and grants.

[formercia]

9. Here's how it works and why they are doing it.

Institutions of higher learning will comply less they lose their government funding. Private institutions that cater to the wealthy and don't accept government money will continue to structure their program to provide a quality education for their students.
When it comes time to hire graduates for good, high paying jobs, employers will be preferential to those graduates from private schools. This happens today, but in the future, the disparity of education between cookie-cutter graduates and graduates from private schools will be even more pronounced.
Look at who gets the top paying jobs in business and industry, it's the sons and daughters of parents who can afford to send their children to a quality university.

The rich get richer and the poor get squat.

[ClintonTyree]

10. I can only speak from my experience.......

my daughter attends Tulane University, a private, top tier University. I am by NO means wealthy. I'm disabled, my Ex is a teacher's assistant in our local school system and between us we're what you might call "lower middle class".
My daughter worked her ass off in High School. She got exceptional grades and was accepted at Tulane with a very generous financial aid package. The yearly cost of a Tulane education is about $48,000, that's room, board, fees and tuition. Tulane pays about 80% of that. The rest she pays for by working and taking our student loans. Not wanting her to start out life under crushing debt, I told her I'd pay her student loans when the time came, so I'LL be the one under crushing debt for the rest of MY life. :shrug: Oh well, she's the future, I'm the past.
What I'm trying to get at is, private Universities have HUGE endowments and make an extreme effort to have a good cross section of people from all walks of life attend their University. Tulane's endowment is around $1,000,000,000 and is considered SMALL compared to Ivy League and other top tier Universities. If the student works hard enough and is determined in his or her life, the doors ARE open to these Universities. Being rich isn't the sole determination of their chances of attending a private, top tier school. WANTING it is much more a factor.
Of course, I'm going to be in debt for the rest of my life as well, ;) but I always told her if she did the work, we would find a way and we did. You certainly have to work at it.

[ray of light]

11. HOLY CRAP! I'm hyperventilating here!!!

Maybe she can get more scholarships.

Without giving too much info, my own child was accepted to Berklee--and they had ziltch in scholarships. She didn't go there. Now she is at a school where she's charged about 32k including room and board. Like you we're not rich either. With scholarships grants and loans, I think there's 9k difference. (As a transfer student, there were not as many scholarships for spring term, so we're hoping that 9 k will be reduced next year.) Also, we're hoping more scholarships will open up as she gets higher up in her field. We're paying what we can. She's taking student loans and like you we'll help her pay for some, but we can not tackle ALL the student loan. She will have to pay some too.

[formercia]

12. Think about the student loan cuts that Fearless Leader is proposing

That will freeze a lot of people such as your children from attending.

Remember, they want 'people like us' to attend their Alma Mater.

Skull and Bones syndrome.

[ray of light]

13. I know.

[ray of light]

14. can you post that over on that site? it's a lot of college

age kids there who really might benefit from this information.

[formercia]

21. Think of it as a form of class warfare

by reducing government subsidies and student loans, the elite increase the chance that one of their inbred spawn might be accepted to a worthy university, rather than have to compete with some intelligent but badly bred animal-human hybrid.

Think of the chimp living under reduced circumstances.

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. Saw that earlier in the week. I think I will send my kids to college in

Canada. I hear the Univ. of Toronto is good.

[ray of light]

19. hate to yank your chain, but I know someone who is doing that

and because the value of the dollar is down, she's still paying 30k for her child to go there. (Another reason Bush has messed things up. Our dollar once strong is now worth less than it use to be when dems were in office.)

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. Yeah, it was more about the quality of education than the cost. No matter

where they want to go to school we can't afford it. :( I pray they are really as brilliant as I think they are and can get scholarships.

[ray of light]

22. pray harder. I'm experiencing this now, and both of my kids

(if you don't mind a little conceit) are really bright and 'gifted' yet still...the full scholarships are gone. You have to put together scholarships and grants. The schools are trying to give more kids some than have one kid get it all. You can't slam them for that. But as the previous posted stated, you can expect at least 20% to come from your own pocket and that's if the school is being generous. But when people are making less money, there's less donations to scholarship funds, so it's a never ending cycle.

[nolies32fouettes]

24. kick and rec