Evan Vucci/AP Photo
Mitt Romney at campaign stop in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday.
Mitt Romney wants us to learn the lesson of Wisconsin, which is apparently that it's OK to defund teachers' unions and rob them of their collective bargaining rights. Check, and check. Maybe it's a good time, then, to talk about Romney's answer to teachers' unions: vouchers.
As his pro-voucher speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce suggests, Romney believes in a market-based approach to overhaul the country's education system. In essence, Romney's plan would give individual grants to K-12 students from a $25 billion federal fund, allowing parents to choose the best school for their child. "Parental choice will hold schools responsible for results," Romney said, confident marketplace dynamics will force institutions to either improve or die. Moreover, these vouchers will work on any type of school — public, private, charter, or online.
It's hard to doubt Romney's sincerity when he proposes a plan like this. The man seems to have implicit faith in the power and good sense of free market economics. Indeed, he was a key figure in the mid-20th century revolutions that injected meritocracies into the heart of corporate America.
Voucher programs remain very controversial in the education field. Critics argue there's not enough empirical data proving schools — more importantly, students — actually benefit from the competition. School districts that have experimented with vouchers have had mixed results. Romney cites the popular Washington D.C. voucher program, "The Opportunity Scholarship Program," as a model for the country.
Meanwhile opponents often cite the 20-year-old “Milwaukee Parental Choice Program," in which students using vouchers performed "similar or worse" than those in public schools, as a model for how the voucher system is flawed.
One main argument: since private schools have the ability to reject applicants, they will inevitably choose only the best students to improve their standing, their "public report cards," leaving slower students (and disabled students) behind. As a result, the schools could lose funding, further off-setting opportunities for all students.
This much is clear: Romney wants the federal government to quit micromanaging our nation's schools. He vowed to "expand parental choice in an unprecedented way" and "will hold schools responsible for results."
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Did you hear Mitt Romney defining “Marriage?” Did you hear him define his Mormon beliefs, as the same as yours at the Evangelical Christian College? Did you hear his fellow Mormons say that by prophets “Mitt Romney is to ride on a white horse into the White House?”
Ok you hear what you hear, do you believe what they say just because you hear it. They think you must believe it!
What you often do not hear is the truth not told.
Do you believe as the Mormons do that God created Jesus and Satan as equals and that they are brothers?
He will not let you hear the truth, he will only tell you what he wants you to believe is true.
Like the time he stated he created 100,000 jobs.
Only he didn’t tell you most of them were created in the out-sourced countries he sent them to.
Romney to Racial Hatred Against Latinos
"God's a Racist"
Romney Racism Issue - Mitt needs to answer the question of Mormon racist past
Still Voting For 'Mitt Romney'?
Colin Powell to Romney on Foreign Policy: 'Come on, Mitt, Think'
Colin Powell with John Stewart on the Daly Show last night; "We should have listened to the German's on the background of the source who are intelligence believed had given us the proof that Sadamn Hussein had been pursuing 'WMDs'"
But then he went on to say that "If the George Bush Administration hadn't taken Hussein out, that rogue ruler would have eventually had the WMDs".
Iran, North Korea? Foreign Policy? Come on, Colin, think!
Mormons also believe that the dead need to be baptised to go to heaven. They baptized Hitler and Stalin to make sure they go to heaven. What about interracial marriage and other mythological. All religion is mythology, therefore Romney believes in mythology since he is a morron.
Romney is a liar -- Why every one except Lawrence is afraid to call him that?
Well if Romney can't be shown to have lied, and you call him a liar without having the proof to back you up, does that not automatically make the foolish and ignorant name caller a liar?
' there is no better education to attain upon the basic foundation knowledge conform our subtility in which stage social development are distinguished facts of interest and irrevocable detentions of different destination.We get to cheerish the gripped we laid are true utilities of friendship and foes of self-engulfing inexplicabilities to transcribe depthual affirm motion preclusives to what is high and low choices we wish to place our centers of disparaging ordeals in systematic way into fulfulling admonition notice of low to key plus and depleted that incessability in which once is enough are alright with me. two is for undetecterred emotions "i have been duped by these garbage of political cyclone of my true compassion are compliable development may future behold a spiritual interference switches turn white were the slaves and black were the sleeves--i guess that is a ciao!
Can we get a law passed for all the biased news channels? CNN, MSNBC, HLN, NBC, ABC, CBS, and CNBC should all have a note in the upper right hand corner saying this is a democatic party biased channel. Fox should have to do the same with the listing of republican. We also need a disclaimer for both saying this is not journalism, it is opinionism. We twist the facts to support our party (see upper right hand corner)