Day 23: Education? What's that?

Initially today, I wanted to talk about how each of the Presidental candidates viewed the military, or how the military might be effected by their election as Commander and Chief. I got online, I looked at magazines, I scoured. And you know what? I saw plenty of ideas, name-calling and evasive maneuvering from all the candidates. But nothing about education. Nada. It could be that I missed this topic or it could be there is nothing to find. My guess is that it's just not a hot topic for this election. And not only our youth of today will suffer for it.

All this talk of education stems from my kids' lack of quality education. As products of public schools, they fall farther and farther down.

As a military wife, I have a unique perspective. In all our moving about, I have been through several school systems. The best schools have been DoD (Department of Defense) schools. Only children on bases can attend those. Which I find to be retarded at best. Shouldn't all military families be allowed to put their children in DoD schools? If we are willing to commute to the base to put our children in, shouldn't that count for something? But here I am begging to be allowed to put my kids in a DoD school, when regular American families don't even get that hope.

Nearly 50 million of America's children attend public schools. There is a serious gap in between what is, and what should be, when it comes to public schools. In a freshman class today, only 74% of those kids will graduate. And if we throw the minority argument in here, 50% of Black, Native American and Latino youth will graduate. Does anyone else think this is appalling? Or am I the only one??

Ok, to be fair, the candidates have thrown around the word "Education" a few times in the debates. We, as voters, got a little pat on the head and sent out to play. But no candidate, neither Democrats nor the Republicans are really coming up with answers. I challenge them to do so. What's the catch phrase now... ahh yes.. "No child Left Behind", ohh and "Education Reform". What do these really mean?

No Child Left Behind seems to be a code word for testing. Tests. Tests. Tests. Teachers teaching how to take tests! Gone are discovery and wonder in our grade schools. Gone are critical thinking and creative writing skills in middle schools. Gone are college prep courses and Humanites courses in Highschool. We are literally wasting our children's potential by making them little cookie-cutter automatons. And it doesn't appear that the current candidates care to adjust anything. It hasn't even been discussed!

Here's 5 good questions we should be asking:

1) Our Nation's schools are overcrowded, which causes teachers to spend more time policing the students then teaching. What is your plan to aleviate this overcrowding?

2) How will you ensure that our children's schools are a place of learning and not a place of crime and violence?

3) How will you work to make teaching a more respected and sought after career for college graduates? What type of insentives will you offer, or suggest?

4) How will you ensure that the children of today are reading and computing at their grade level? Will you reform the current testing? How will you ensure that children of today will master the skills for graduation?

5) How will you make it exciting for parents and adults to be a part of their child's education? How will you persuade them to help?

Maybe these questions aren't the sole purpose of the president. But they are valid questions that should be asked and at least examined, don't you think? I think at least the children of today deserve more than to be just an afterthought of the campaign trail. It should be a focus!

Our country tomorrow will be no better than the children growing up today. That's the bottom line.