Before the formation of the Department of Education, the U.S. was top in the world in education, without the federal government getting involved, since then the only direction our quality of education has gone is down.

__________________

Surely you're not implying causation.

__________________
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Yes, I am.

__________________

Mm. Any real reasoning to back that up? Or, just an opinion?

__________________
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Bureaucrats in Washington are less able to respond to children's needs, and Congress has a way of just throwing money at the problem and hoping it'll go away. The more we localize education and the closer to home it becomes, we'll have those who run the schools coming closer into proximity with the children, and they'll have a deeper understanding of what's wrong the school and what needs to be fixed. They ought to be empowered to fix it rather than have Washington breathing down their necks.

I have no problem with taxpayer funded schools, I just don't think the federal government should be involved in any way, nor do I believe they're empowered to do so in the first place.

__________________

The impact that the federal government has on state schools is minimal. Curriculum and instruction are very much localized, as is testing. Washington is hardly breathing down anyone's neck, as you put it.

__________________
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

If that's so why can't we get rid of the Department of Education and No Child Left Behind? Why do we allow Congress to even touch the subject of education?

If the feds have minimal involvement in education why would getting rid of that involvement be so bad?

__________________

I'd love to see NCLB made to go away. It's horrible legislation.

It also seems to me that more federal involvement could be a good thing. So many states have set such piss-poor standards for education that the country as a whole is suffering.

Seriously. Look at how many people can't even write a coherent sentence. Look at how few have any real understanding of science, or how few could balance their checkbook without a calculator.

Many of the states (Mississippi comes to mind) have demonstrated that they're not capable of creating education systems that are sufficient to meet the needs of the US. It's arguable that our need for better educated students is directly related to national security, and therefore something which the federal government should control more strictly.

__________________
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Personally, I think the quality of education would increase if we just privatized it. My main objection to federal involvement is its Constitutionality (or lack thereof). Nowhere is the power to regulate, or even fund, education specifically enumerated to any branch of the federal government.

__________________

Unfortunately, there's no evidence that privatization would help in the slightest. Especially since there's no profit motive.

__________________
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Really, so all private schools are being operated under the presumption that the owner is going to make a net loss every fiscal year?

__________________

If you're going to argue against yourself, would you mind leaving me out of it?

__________________
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Take money from the greedy rich and give it back to hard working honest american workers.

I like the plan. You greedy people should be ashamed and god will punish you for your greed !!!

Give it back implies it was taken from them. How is that?

__________________
http://www.fairtax.org

Elminate all taxes on income and replace with a national sales tax.

Do you understand the factors that determine real wages?