It's official, I could SCREAM. For those of you who don't know, President Bush vetoed a spending bill for Education, Health, and Labor (at 150.7 billion) because Congress was acting "like a teenager with a credit card," but approved the $459 billion INCREASE in war spending.
What!?!?!?!?!?! I get the fact that my priorities are vastly different than the President's. I accepted that long ago. But to continue to mandate the pressures of NCLB without filling in the funding gap makes me want to puke. Certain folks in the Administration are complaining that Congress is being pressured by special interest groups to fund these earmarked projects. I think this is the first time I've ever been forced to view kids as special interest groups.
And this, all from the "Education President."
You can read more about it here. And yes, I am biased. Deal with it (I'm also, apparently, really in a bad mood).
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7 comments:
This is seriously crazy, more funding is going to the war in Iraq than funding towards education. This is absolutely absurd. It's really a sad thing to think about, it's sad to know what is important to the President and what's not so important. Education should really be at the top of his list, not the war in Iraq. He's thinking about the war in Iraq because of oil. I was glad that you made this point in your blog. I wonder what the next election will bring....more absurd surprises?
I think its just a huge matter of the President having his own priorities messed up. He claims that he wants to improve the education in America and he thinks he did it by adding the NCLB but forgot to add in the funding needed for most of the schools to follow the NCLB. Instead he is funding this war that no one wants to be in anymore. But should'nt he be handling the problems taking place on our own soil before we handle a problem that in a few years will hopefully be solved by a new President that will hopefully have his or her's priorities in line.
When I read your post, I became infuriated as well. It was ironic to read your post because I recently found an article in the New York Times claiming that so many New York schools failed under the new rating system, that now 29,000 students have the choice to transfer schools. This also means that many teachers as well as administrators may lose their jobs not only because many students will transfer, but because they have not "done thier job". When I read this, all I could think about was the fact that the grading system and NCLB is obviously still not working for many reasons. I am firm in believing that education is THE most important thing a person can invest time and money in. I may be out of line in saying this, but when the President doesn't show enough of an interest in the educational system in America especially when it is at a crucial point, what does that say to students, teachers, and parents? I have so many thoughts on this, and in order to not ramble on too long I'll end by commenting on the fact that I really don't see a lot of positive things happening in education lately and in the future and it REALLY scares me.
I guess his version of NCLB means no child with a credit card can be left behind! Lets not spend money to educate children rather spend the money putting guns in their hands. Okay- dramatic comparison but if you think about it that's the message the US is sending. Kindof like those newspaper headlines that have a four year old child in a third world country holding a sniper. How ironic!
You just fail to realize that a guns & butter economy is better than a tax & spend economy. Look at the time it takes for a ROI on education vs. keeping the economy from going down the toilet. Big Business first, everyone else second....Now that I set off the pop-off valve on most educators, I have a paper to write. My country right or wrong.
A democracy is dependent upon the education of its people. We do have to protect ourselves but if we do it at the expense of education our democracy itself will deteriorate. We won't have a democracy to defend.
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