Politicians say they care about education. Now public school advocates are putting them to the test.
A Gallup poll taken early this year about what issues are most important to Americans found that 90 percent of Democrats view education as important while 67 percent of Republicans do. Yet education was barely raised by candidates running for the GOP and Democratic presidential candidates — and there’s no indication that it will be a big issue in the expected match-up between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the fall.
Now public school advocates opposed to corporate school reform are trying to get the attention of Democrats and Republicans, asking that both parties include five key principles in their party platforms that will be approved by their respective conventions this summer. If either party listens, it is more likely to be the Democrats, who traditionally are strong supporters of public education — even though the Obama administration embraced many aspects of the reform movement.
Trump has said very little about education policy other than to repeatedly declare that he would kill the Common Core State Standards — apparently not understanding that the U.S. president doesn’t have the power to do this. Given Trump’s anointment of Ben Carson, the neurosurgeon who unsuccessfully ran in the GOP primaries, as an important education adviser, it is safe to assume that a serious effort to work toward ending educational inequity and improve public schools would not be forthcoming in a Trump presidency. Carson’s own education platform wasriddled with errors (and it’s worth remembering that he doesn’t believe in evolution, the central principle in modern biology that modern scientists agree is indisputably true).
On the campaign trail, Clinton has spoken about public education, charter schools, the Common Core and other education subjects more than any of the other candidates — including Bernie Sanders, who often railed about billionaires controlling the political process but not Politicians say they care about education. Now public school advocates are putting them to the test. - The Washington Post:
