Does the status quo in education really, really help the children of this country?

This question is borderline hypocritical considering his failures with education and his "No child left behind policy" which so far has raised standards for children with the FCAT and the like but has not delivered any effects, in fact funding for education is going to be trimmed somewhat next year.  In Florida schools are beggining to cut art and music programs and anything they don't deem neccessary because of these cuts.  I'm glad to see that at least he showed up to speak as opposed to his issues with the NAACP which he refused to speak to ealier this month

Yeah that's a pretty hypocritical line right there. To the second to last question a better question would be has shifting the tax burden onto working people so that the rich (my family included) can buy more fancy European cars ever helped a black kid get out of the ghetto? And has cutting social programs ever fed a hungry child who's mom already works twelve hours a day just to stay on welfare?

in fact funding for education is going to be trimmed somewhat next year.

That is not true.
According to the Department of Educations Fiscal Year 2005 Congressional Action report, the requested budget for 2005 reflects an increase over 2004 appropriations.

Quite often an increase is reported by the media as a cut due to the increase not being as great as some would like.

hmmm now I have to go and download the speech....pretty good stuff but not as bold as Cosby...

I find it interesting that white Democrats are so against school vouchers which are primarily intended to enable minorities to get out of ghetto schools and into better schools.

Teachers Union + anti-Religion = no school voucher support

It's a cut when compared to rising costs.

Cosby had every right to say what he did. Bush on the other hand is wrong to makes those false claims.

Instead of vouchers there should be a real plan to turn ghetto schools around so that we won't be calling them ghetto schools anymore. Being a teacher is a thankless job. I don't think the union should dictate how much money they get but I think there should be a trade between higher wages for higher standards. I'm not anti-religion but not every community has a church for every denomination in it and I think the secular option should be a good one. Parents should not be forced to send their kids to a church they don't belong to just so they can get a decent education.

It's a cut when compared to rising costs.

It doesn't matter what you 'compare' it to, when the total goes up it's an increase.

Cosby had every right to say what he did. Bush on the other hand is wrong to makes those false claims. Instead of vouchers there should be a real plan to turn ghetto schools around so that we won't be calling them ghetto schools anymore. Being a teacher is a thankless job. I don't think the union should dictate how much money they get but I think there should be a trade between higher wages for higher standards. I'm not anti-religion but not every community has a church for every denomination in it and I think the secular option should be a good one. Parents should not be forced to send their kids to a church they don't belong to just so they can get a decent education.

Yea, the Democrats have shown just so much interest in actually DOING something about Ghetto schools.  Let's see, who opposed trying to hold teachers accountable? The Democrats.  Who opposed having teachers take a compentency test? The Democrats.  Heck, who opposed school integration in the south? The Democrats.

When it comes to helping African Americans, the Democrats can't hold a torch to the *actual deeds* Republicans have done. The Democrats just talk and talk and talk but never do anything.  Didn't the Democrats control congress for half a century? Did they fix the schools? Nope, they got worse.

But when Bush comes in and actually gets some new ideas through to try to help, he gets nothing from resistance.  I think it says a lot about the Democrats and their real views on African Americans that they oppose testing teachers, holding schools accountable, and school vouchers.  Remember, part of the original no child life behind plan, which got gutted by Democrats to get it through congress, was to have failing ghetto schools closed and send those kids to new schools.  Anyone in education can tell you that the biggest problem with the ghetto schools isn't lack of money, it's incomptence by the school board, the teachers, and beauracracy.  The original No Child Left Behind Plan basically put these people on notice that if they keep screwing up, the state or federal government would be able to come in and clean house. But the Democrats were agains thtat because they didn't want to get the teacher's unions mad at them. And so who suffers? The African Americans.

On education African Americans should be on the side of the Republicans.  The Democrats can't satify the needs of both the teachers unions and African Americans. 

Personally, I have little sympathy for the plight of African Americans.  They get the government they demand.  They've so thoroughly allied themselves iwth the Democrats (90% of them voted for Gore) that the Democrats have had little need to actually do anythign to try to help them.  Anyone who's foolish enough to keep voting for people who aren't FIXING the problems you voted for them for deserves what they get.

You're gonna tell me that the Democratic Party that opposed intergration and oppressed blacks in the South is the same Democratic party today? I'm sorry but there is a reason the Republicans do some well in the South now. It's because all the biggots went somewhere they would feel more welcome. It's a real great sign of the Republican leadership that they accepted those views to get the votes.

And the Republicans are doing a really good job of backing up thier deeds. I alway opposed No Child Left Behind because it was flawed from the start. It held back the brighter students while trying to force those behind the curve into even worse schools. Our biggest say one thing do another presidential appointee won't even give it the funding he promised. Not to mention the cut funding for low income college students and pell grants. Also he proposed to eliminate Youth Oppurtunity Grants that provided job training to young Americans. Off the subject of education there are also the racist judicial appointees and the fact that more and more kids are being taken off the street by throwing them in jail for minor drug offenses. As for the continent of Africa itself Bush effectively cut the AIDS initiative by $2 billion from what was promised.

You really love demonizing teachers don't you. I'd rank teachers as one of the top three most thankless jobs in America along with being enlisted in the military and being a police officer. Just maybe those teachers, many of whom are from the community they work in, have some ideas that may actually work.

I'm sorry but there is a reason the Republicans do some well in the South now. It's because all the biggots went somewhere they would feel more welcome. It's a real great sign of the Republican leadership that they accepted those views to get the votes.

Are you saying that a majority, or even just a large percentage, of Southerners are bigots?

You really love demonizing teachers don't you.

I think he is demonizing the teacher's unions, which, in my experience, have little regard for teachers or students.

Pictoratus here is what is growing:

According to the database, that one-third of the budget would grow from the $821 billion Bush requested for 2005 to $843 billion in 2006, or about 2.7%.

But that includes defense and foreign aid spending, which are both slated for increases due in part to wars and the battle against terrorism.

The Education Department would go from $57.3 billion in 2005 to $55.9 billion in 2006, 2.4% less.

The remaining amount — for domestic spending — would drop from $368.7 billion in 2005 to $366.3 billion in 2006. Though that reduction would be just 0.7%, it does not take into account inflation or the political consequences of curbing spending for popular programs.

I guess I shouldn't have said next year.  The cuts are coming in 2006.  Anyways here are a couple links to the sites that contain this information. 

Link

Link

 

Gee whiz, people used to have parents who actually saved to send their kids to college, or barring that, they WORKED their way through college. Wahhh wahhh wahhh, we are too spoiled to do that nowadays, and its all the big bad governments fault...wahhh wahhh wahhh.

I'm working my way through college.  I go to school full time and I have a full time job.  I know plenty of my peers who do the same and we still need grants and loans for the rising costs of attending a university.  Are you attending a university, and if so do you speak to any actual college students? 

Yeah you really have a great graps of the situation in Africa don't you little whip? You may as well just come out and say that we shouldn't give money to animals. Maybe thats not what you mean, but that is the impression you give.

But I can make that mistake too. CS it's my fault you interpretted my statements to be such a blanket commendation. Still I do strongly believe that there is a solid block of biggotted voters and beyond that there is also an underlying bias instilled through hundreds of years of holding superiority. There are many who hold not hate for blacks but unintentionally make decisions based on that bias. There's also a reluctance to accept the full horror of the crimes committed in our collective history because those crimes strike closest to home in the South. Still the Republican leadership has taken few steps to discourage these views within thier party. They may not be encouraging racism but they are blind to how much it still exists.

To reply #16. I'd disagree on the basis that everyone deserves the oppurtunity to enter the workforce on a level playing field. Some people may have to work harder to get there than others of course but delaying your education can hurt you in the long run. Not to mention the many people who can't even afford to go to a decent college now. Like my closest friend.