World Class Education For All

Continuing and concluding our series on Kerry's proposals, let's look at what Kerry and Edwards plan to do about education.

Meet Our Responsibilities To Our Schools
John Kerry and John Edwards will establish a National Education Trust Fund to ensure that schools always get the funding they need. They will also ensure that No Child Left Behind works for schools, states, and teachers by rewarding those who meet higher standards and rewarding schools that turn around and improve.

First of all they commit to making sure that schools get the funding they need, but they also commit to No Child Left Behind stays in effect (which punishes schools for poor performance). I'm not sure about the balance here.

Continue Reform And Put A Great Teacher In Every Classroom
Great teachers are the foundation of a great school. As president, John Kerry will enact a new bargain that offers teachers more, including better training and better pay in troubled schools, and asks for more in return, including fast, fair ways to make sure that teachers who don't belong in the classroom don't stay there.

I have mixed feelings about this one as well. Clearly the key to getting ambitious and creative people to go into our schools is to reward them. Anybody who looks at going into the teaching profession these days knows that it is a route to economic mediocrity. So certainly if we are going to get better teachers, something has to be done about that. On the other hand, the second part of the paragraph might be clearer. Making it easier to fire teachers is a good thing when it comes to issues like abuse. But there has to be a balance; teachers like a certain amount of job security same as the rest of us.

Offer 3.5 Million After-School Opportunities Through "School's Open 'Til Six"
John Kerry and John Edwards are strong supporters of after-school programs. They give students extra help, keep them out of trouble, and offer peace of mind to working parents. The Kerry-Edwards "School's Open 'Til 'Six" initiative will offer after-school opportunities to 3.5 million children, through programs that are open until 6 p.m. and offer safe transportation for children.

The unfortunate reality is that this is really a good idea. Kids need supervision, and since all of our modern conveniences have allowed us to work longer hours (funny how that worked out), than there needs to be something available. Plus this might very well be a back end way to get music and arts back in the hands of kids.

Make College Affordable For All And Expand Lifelong Learning
As president, John Kerry will offer a fully refundable College Opportunity Tax credit on up to $4,000 of tuition for every year of college and offer aid to states that keep tuitions down. And he will launch a new effort to ensure that all of our workers can get the technical skills and advanced training they need.

I like this too (was impressed by college tax credit when it was proposed on the West Wing). College isn't the silver bullet, but it is key, and making it more attainable is always a good thing. On the other hand, I think the real work has to be done in the high-schools and junior highs getting kids ready for college.

Anyway I've decided to skip the environment, mainly cause I read some articles yesterday and today that I want to comment on, and also because the environment isn't going to be an election deciding issue this time around. For those who don't know, Kerry has a pretty good record on the environment and is likely to continue working in support of these issues.

Hope you have enjoyed this review; please feel free to refer to it the next time someone says "Well, Kerry isn't running on anything but Vietnam."