This is the first post in the NYC Students Blog's candidate series, in which each of the student bloggers will discuss their candidate and why that candidate is the best for America's students. Enjoy!- Seth
It is the common practice to pick a candidate you support for president at this time of year. While I do not feel particularly supportive of any of the candidates (my favorite is Edwards, but he has his flaws, such as voting for the Patriot Act, and the war). However, I can say that while I have never supported a Republican, if things continue to shape up as they did in New Hampshire, I will be supporting John McCain come fall.
There are a lot of reasons I don't like Hillary Clinton, but one of my main reasons is her belief that No Child Left Behind should be funded. McCain, on the other hand, does not believe in the merit of high stakes testing. He believes values should be taught in schools nationwide, but he believes actual content should be a state and municipal issue. This is why he gets my vote as far as education goes.
Senator Clinton wants to continue to fund a program that only continues the competition and uselessness of high stakes testing. While Clinton's position endorses class size reduction, teacher recruitment, and mentoring (all programs I am big on), they stem from money that would go towards a reinstated testing program with a few more bells and whistles.
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2 comments:
On Seth's note, I'd like to point out that McCain is not my candidate until Hillary gets the nod from the Democrats. I'd much rather see John Edwards, who other than his Patriot Act ideas, I really have no issues with. McCain's foriegn policy flat out scares me.
You need look only to Asian countries to see the madness of high stakes testing. What you get are students who know how to cram for tests and take tests. What society needs are people who can produce and perform.
When students face the panel and are examined for PhD status, they totally balk because now it's not a written test. It's more like real life, co-workers and bosses who have conversations.
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