America's Education Meltdown

"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?" -- former president George Bush

You can get all A's and still flunk life. -- Walker Percy

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Now that Wisconsin has moved ahead with the elimination of collective bargaining practices for teachers as a new state policy and not as a means of cutting spending, WI Republicans also admit their motivation is a nationwide political tactic against Democrats -- and the pawns in their game are your schools.

Tennessee - "We will bend public education to our awe, or break it all to pieces."


Indiana - "The fight over these bills is why House Democrats are, in essence, on strike. They remain in an Urbana, Ill., hotel, refusing to give Republicans the quorum they need."

Idaho - “Good teachers do not need tenure.”

Michigan - "Gov. Snyder's budget plan amounts to a $470-per-pupil cut in state aid that will cause financial upheaval in some school districts."

Florida - "The proposal would scrap the traditional model that bases teacher salaries and firing decisions on seniority. At least half of teachers’ pay would be tied to student performance, and all teachers would receive annual instead of continuing contracts.

Worth noting too -- the constant push for schools to achieve high scores on standardized tests in order to receive funding and evaluate students and teachers has created a system where the test scorers are told to make sure and give schools higher scores:

"The legitimacy of testing is being taken for granted," he says. "It's a farce."

"Though the efficacy of standardized testing has been hotly debated for decades, one thing has become crystal clear: It's big business. ... In 2009, K-12 testing was estimated to be a $2.7 billion industry."

See Also: A look at states and their current legislative agendas on Education policies.