[WS:] I cannot believe I would say it, but Romney's position on education is superior to that of Obama and the Democrat party.
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Don't kid yourself. This is a choice between the frying pan or the fire. They are both bad ideas, two different paths to privatization and or deunionization. And I'll bet the voucher plan is not without strings, such as demanding alternatives to public education be made available by the states. Federal money is always conditional. Obama's Race to the Top, was of course less money and more conditions. Here is some background:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/no-child-left-behind/
Notice this was a reauthorization act of the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act from 1965. NDLB and Obama's disgusting Race to the Top twisted the original intention completely inside out. The original intent was to offer federal help to public schools in poor neighborhoods and it did. Here is the background on ESEA, 1965.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_and_Secondary_Education_Act
`` It was passed as a part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty" and has been the most far-reaching federal legislation affecting education ever passed by Congress. The act is an extensive statute that funds primary and secondary education, while explicitly forbidding the establishment of a national curriculum.[1] It also emphasizes equal access to education and establishes high standards and accountability.[2] In addition, the bill aims to shorten the achievement gaps between students by providing each child with fair and equal opportunities to achieve an exceptional education. As mandated in the act, the funds are authorized for professional development, instructional materials, for resources to support educational programs, and for parental involvement promotion. The act was originally authorized through 1970.''
What did professional developmenr mean back then? Well Teacher Corp was one example It was a program to fund students with a BA or BS to take a post graduate degree in elementary and secondary education, which included placement and part-time classroom teaching during the credential program. You got out of paying the loans by committing to two to four year contracts with low income schools. A friend of mine came out of CSUN in Anthropology, went to teacher corp and taught in some low income LA school. He took his anthro curriculum and developed a beautiful sounding program for fifth graders that of course included several day long field trips to the appropriate LA county museums. The main subject matters were human societies, history, and human evolution. You could call this liberational anthro. So some lucky kids got a real treat and real break for a couple of years. My friend was a very good teacher. I had known him since nineth grade when we worked as day camp counselors at his mother's pinko summer school.
California Teacher Corp is still around, but who knows what it has morphed into. I don't like the look of their website. It would need a fact by some teacher's union, for or again.