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Gore and Bush on public school education reform
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Gore and Bush on public school education reform With the importance of education being emphasized in our technologically advancing society, the next president of the United States faces an education system in need of drastic reform to continue to compete in the world market. Education standards between wealthy and poor areas of the country continue to remain drastically unequal in their scope, and it is vividly apparent that education standards must be reformed to ensure all students are offered the same opportunities for academic and economic success. The major question is, which of the two candidates, Al Gore or George W. Bush, has the correct game plan and ideology, to ensure future success for America’s children. In comparing Al Gore and George W. Bush on education reform, the two men differ substantially on how education should be overseen in general. Al Gore favors national government supervision of education and its funding, curriculum, and accountability, while George W. Bush is pushing for a laissez faire or “hands off” federal government that would keep control of education in the hands of local government, where it has traditionally been. While the federal government provides substantial funds to states for education, Bush believes that its role in education should be limited strictly to funding and accountability. While encouraging the distribution of federal funds for education, Bush is adamant that schools, especially those showing academic failure, need to display a notable degree of improvement to qualify for grants from the federal government. Bush believes schools that do not show considerable academic progress should have their funds revoked in the future and must demonstrate substantial progress to have the money reinstated (George W. Bush on Education par. 20). If revoked, these funds would then be awarded, in the form of a voucher, to the parents of the children enrolled in these failing schools so that they could have the option of transferring their children to either a charter, private, or other public school that would best benefit the child (Education par. 4). This type of redistribution would allow parents to tailor their child’s education to best fit any learning difficulties or special talents they wish to highlight and would keep control of education in the hands of the local sector. George W. Bush believes additional national influence over education would only serve to undermine the local efforts to change their school system and that local control allows educators to focus on the particular problems of their individual districts. This ideology has been the traditional path for education to follow and has served as the backbone to which the education system was built upon. Al Gore, in contrast, is proposing a fifty percent increase in the amount of federal funds allocated towards education with additional national testing and standards to warrant their issuance. He favors increased national influence over education and feels it could produce a greater influence and change than the local and state governments could evoke. In his 5-point plan for keeping states and schools accountable for academic success, Al Gore would enact guidelines and testing to ensure education reform is progressing. This plan contrasts that of Bush by expanding solely on the public education system by funding existing schools and the opening of public charter or alternative schools.
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