Education and Tea Parties...

I know people do not often approve of my ranting and raving about my political views. However, in light of the current elections I feel some things must be mentioned so the fives and tens of people who read my blog stay up to date and informed.

On a blustery Tuesday 5 days ago a Dr. Rand Paul became the Senator of Kentucky. Now, the Tea Party is becoming notoriously popular for their grass roots movement, the extreme right views and of course their opposition to the terrorist based masturbation movement. Rand Paul is a proud Tea Partier. (Google tells me partier is not a word, but apparently there is no other way to suggest his affiliation in this tense.) Dr. Paul has made quite a few lofty claims regarding his beliefs and his plans for America's future. Before I launch into his educational beliefs, please recall that this is the gentleman who feels Civil Rights laws should not be enforced!! (Seriously?? We already won that war sir...please don't bring it back! I do not mind eating in a restaurant with people of different skin color and neither should you!)

Alright, so to keep with the theme of the blog let me explain his views on education. TO HELL WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION!! Well, maybe he never said those words, exactly, but I do love poetic license! He does feel taxes should be cut towards the Department of Education. As a teacher I know the Dept of Ed is far from flawless and yes, No Child Left Behind has literally left America much further behind all other developed nations...(but that rant shall be saved for a posting about George W in which there is no blog big enough.) Despite the major flaws in our education system, please try and imagine where we would be without a body to govern it! Pure chaos is all I can imagine! Not only does he want to cut funding, he wants to do so in order to support homeschooling. Now am I against homeschooling? Yes, as a teacher and my 5 years of education for my undergraduate degree and my 2 years for my Masters in Special Education, I do feel I am more qualified than SOME parents at educating children. After all...if I was arrested and on trial I would feel a lawyer would be more qualified to represent me rather than myself giving it a go. If a parent is against the health care system I would surely not think of suggesting they provide their own medical care to their children when they are ill, however, this is the alternative being provided for parents who don't support the education system. Should homeschooling not be an option? Of course not! Their are some excellent curriculums parents can purchase and if a parent is qualified then by all means I would support home schooling. I do still feel that there should be some laws and government departments to place guidelines and protective measures on homeschooling which is what Dr. Paul is against. If this ever happens it is basically telling the average American to go ahead and homeschool however they like. After all, they are the parents and to hell with highly qualified teachers. I can only imagine the disastrous outcomes that would occur if his thoughts on education actually caught on around the country...Our test scores are already trailing many countries, can you begin to fathom what would happen if a country who supports Nascar and fast food were left to their own devices for educating children??