As Campaign K-12 reports, last night's presidential debate was a bonanza for education. The candidates mentioned the word 21 times--which would look particularly impressive were it not for Joe the Plumber's 26 citations. (Maybe four years from now Joe the Teacher will break through.)
The folks at Ed in '08 are no doubt hung over this morning from a raucous night of partying. (I know what that's like.) For not only did Bob Schieffer target the last question of the last debate to the education issue, he teed it up in a manner that must have made Eli Broad smile.
The question is this: the U.S. spends more per capita than any other country on education. Yet, by every international measurement, in math and science competence, from kindergarten through the 12th grade, we trail most of the countries of the world.
The implications of this are clearly obvious. Some even say it poses a threat to our national security.
Do you feel that way and what do you intend to do about it?
The discussion that ensued may not move the dial on the percentage of Americans who consider education their topic election issue, but it surely boosted the numbers of people who think our public schools are going to hell in a hand basket.*
So Ed in '08: You were last night's big winner!
But there were others...Charter schools and pay-for-performance earned praise from both candidates, with Obama mentioning his support for them as prominent examples of bucking his own party (and, in particularly, the teachers unions). McCain had a shout out for Teach For America, a move that surely deserves praise for its bipartisanship, considering that (as far as I can tell) 99.8% of TFA corps members and alumni are loyal Democrats.
And the losers? No doubt the teachers unions are smarting this morning, not just because Obama likes to bring attention with his differences with them, but because both candidates went after "bad teachers." First McCain said we need to "find bad teachers another line of work," which elicited agreement from Obama:
And we also agree on the need for making sure that if we have bad teachers that they are swiftly--after given an opportunity to prove themselves, if they can't hack it, then we need to move on because our kids have to have their best future.
So the NEA and AFT: You were last night's big loser!
But there were others. No Child Left Behind, of course, which was described as an "unfunded mandate" by Obama. This led to a half-hearted defense by McCain:
Now as far as the No Child Left Behind is concerned, it was a great first beginning in my view. It had its flaws, it had its problems, the first time we had looked at the issue of education in America from a nationwide perspective.** And we need to fix a lot of the problems. We need to sit down and reauthorize it.
But school vouchers didn't have a great night either, in my view. Like a comet, this issue comes around in presidential politics every eight years or so. And the problem this time wasn't any deft attack on the idea by Obama (who halfheartedly said that "the data doesn't show that [vouchers] actually solves the problem"), it was McCain's garbled advocacy for them.
I'm sure you're aware, Senator Obama, of the program in the Washington, D.C., school system where vouchers are provided and there's a certain number, I think it's a thousand and some and some 9,000 parents asked to be eligible for that.
Because they wanted to have the same choice that you and I and Cindy and your wife have had. And that is because they wanted to choose the school that they thought was best for their children.
And we all know the state of the Washington, D.C., school system. That was vouchers. That was voucher, Senator Obama. And I'm frankly surprised you didn't pay more attention to that example.
Huh? We all knew what he was trying to say, something like this: "This is a program for 2,000 desperately poor families--families that have decided that private or parochial schools are the best fit for their children. It costs a mere pittance. But you would take this option away from those families, even when the Democratic mayor of Washington supports it, even when two former Democratic mayors support it, even when the superintendent of schools supports it,*** even when you send your own children to an elite private school? For those 2,000 children, vouchers are a lifeline, and you would cut it off?"
So voucher supporters, you didn't have such a hot night either.
So that was it. Education's five minutes of fame. Bask in the glow, because we're not likely to hear much about the topic from any candidate (or president) for many months to come.
*No doubt the folks at the Education and the Public Interest Center blame Fordham for this characterization of America's school system, charging, as they did yesterday that our "Education Olympics provides no basis for assertion that nation's students will harm its economic future." Excuse us, but we never said our students will harm our economic future--it's our education system's poor performance that will. But regardless, a think tank review project of the Education Olympics? We are so flattered. Now you can target the Commission on Presidential Debates next.
**No doubt Lyndon Johnson and Bobby Kennedy were rolling in their graves.
***He did refer to Michelle Rhee's support for vouchers.
