A Patriotic Response To The "Clown Prince" 03/13/2010
Weekly Address
March 13, 2010
Lost in the news of the week was a headline that ought to be a source of concern for every American. It said, “Many Nations Passing U.S. in Education.” Now, debates in Washington tend to be consumed with the politics of the moment: who’s up in the daily polls; whose party stands to gain in November. But what matters to you – what matters to our country – is not what happens in the next election, but what we do to lift up the next generation. And the fact is, there are few issues that speak more directly to our long term success as a nation than issues concerning the education we provide to our children.
[What I'm not telling you: With upwards of 65% of the Amerian public against my monument to myself--obamaCare--I have to shift the focus to another area. I have chosen secondary education to be the "smokescreen of the day." My handlers found those statistics to be the most dis-heartening, thus will tug at the American 'heart strings!' With the public focused in this area--with the media 'in-the-tank' for anything I say--we should be able to slide obamaCare through the congress with "midnight-massacre" tactics that the public won't recognize until it's all done!]
Our prosperity in the 20th century was fueled by an education system that helped grow the middle class and unleash the talents of our people more fully and widely than at any time in our history. We built schools and focused on the teaching of math and science. We helped a generation of veterans go to college through the GI Bill. We led the globe in producing college graduates, and in turn we led in producing ground-breaking technologies and scientific discoveries that lifted living standards and set us apart as the world’s engine of innovation.
Of course, other nations recognize this, and are looking to gain an edge in the global marketplace by investing in better schools, supporting teachers, and committing to clear standards that will produce graduates with more skills. Our competitors understand that the nation that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow. Yet, too often we have failed to make inroads in reforming and strengthening our public education system – the debate mired in worn arguments hurled across entrenched divides.
[What I'm not telling you: Remember, during my last "Campaign of Fluff," when I continually flip-flopped on the subject of NAFTA? First, I was for a unilateral re-negotiation of the agreement; then I wanted to 'open negotiations' with our trading partners, Canada and Mexico, to find a workable compromise. I can just as easily "face east or west" on any question; which ever will accomplish the goals my handlers have set out for me. Early on in the American educational system, the unions got a strangle-hold on the whole arena of education. They now dictate practically everything: wages, tenure, length of the school day, length of the school year, textbook content, just to name a few areas. With the advent of NAFTA, a large portion of the manufacturing base 'went south,' America lost trillions of dollars in assets and earning power. This unwise decision by "Slick-Willie" and HIS handlers had a trickle-down effect, eventually taking funding from American educational systems at every level. Conversely, the benefiting third-world rathole countries raised their national incomes by several hundred percentage points! Some wisely invested this added income in their educational systems, thereby eventually surpassing The United States. I'm now using this loss in educational stature to whine and cry; thus obfuscating the actions on obamaCare. I think it'll work unless the Tea Party people continue to draw attention back to the issue at hand in the congress: obamaCare!!]
As a result, over the last few decades, we’ve lost ground. One assessment shows American fifteen year olds no longer even near the top in math and science when compared to their peers around the world. As referenced in the news report I mentioned, we’ve now fallen behind most wealthy countries in our high school graduation rates. And while we once led the world in the proportion of college graduates we produced, today we no longer do.
Not only does that risk our leadership as a nation, it consigns millions of Americans to a lesser future. For we know that the level of education a person attains is increasingly a prerequisite for success and a predictor of the income that person will earn throughout his or her life. Beyond the economic statistics is a less tangible but no less painful reality: unless we take action – unless we step up – there are countless children who will never realize their full talent and potential.
I don’t accept that future for them. And I don’t accept that future for the United States of America. That’s why we’re engaged in a historic effort to redeem and improve our public schools: to raise the expectations for our students and for ourselves, to recognize and reward excellence, to improve performance in troubled schools, and to give our kids and our country the best chance to succeed in a changing world.
Under the leadership of an outstanding Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, we launched a Race to the Top, through which states compete for funding by committing to reform and raising standards, by rewarding good teaching, by supporting the development of better assessments to measure results, and by emphasizing math and science to help prepare children for college and careers.
[What I'm not telling you: Check the demographics of those world-wide countries I refer to. Very few--if any--have a dependency class anywhere as large as ours in their economic makeup. This directly counters what America has: Nearly 35% of Americans {83.9 million} receive some form of Federal aid!! The dependency class has a direct corollation to educational performance; the liberal fascists--starting with my hero, FDR--use this tactic for wealth re-distribution and vote buying. So far, it's worked well--far beyond our expectations!! We are well into our third generation of welfareRATs... and continuing on into the future; so long as we can maintain control of the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. The dependency class breeds the attitude that hard work is in fact, a negative attribute!! Why work at all, "the government" will provide EVERYTHING without the recipient lifting-a-finger!! Actually, that aforementioned control isn't really that important; members of all parties are subservient to the dependency class: They fear losing their cushy, powerful jobs if they try to reform the system!! I have--for most of my short, mediocre political career--been indebted to the "Chicago political machine;" the Chicago Thugocracy!! It has been "brought to my attention" in no uncertain terms, that if I wanted to count on the votes shopped around by both the Thugrocracy and the unions, I'd better insure that Arne Duncan continued to climb the "Ladder-of-Thugs;" the only reason I appointed him the Education Secretary. {"A Stellar Leader, He Ain't!!"} Check this out: The results of a study commissioned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, indicate that Chicago, the third largest school system of the fifty surveyed, graduates a dismal 52.2% of it's seniors in 2002-2003!! This graduation rate puts the Chicago School System at 14th of those fifty surveyed!! This was 'accomplished' entirely on Arne Duncan's watch. I had to pick him for the federal position; everyone knows how indebted I am to the Thugocracy in Chicago and to the unions, nationwide!!]
And on Monday, my administration will send to Congress our blueprint for an updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act to overhaul No Child Left Behind. What this plan recognizes is that while the federal government can play a leading role in encouraging the reforms and high standards we need, the impetus for that change will come from states, and from local schools and school districts. So, yes, we set a high bar – but we also provide educators the flexibility to reach it.
Under these guidelines, schools that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded, and local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down. For the majority of schools that fall in between – schools that do well but could do better – we will encourage continuous improvement to help keep our young people on track for a bright future: prepared for the jobs of the 21st century. And because the most important factor in a child’s success is the person standing at the front of the classroom, we will better prepare teachers, support teachers, and encourage teachers to stay in the field. In short, we’ll treat the people who educate our sons and daughters like the professionals they are.
Through this plan we are setting an ambitious goal: all students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career – no matter who you are or where you come from. Achieving this goal will be difficult. It will take time. And it will require the skills, talents, and dedication of many: principals, teachers, parents, students. But this effort is essential for our children and for our country. And while there will always be those cynics who claim it can’t be done, at our best, we know that America has always risen to the challenges that we’ve faced. This challenge is no different.
[What I'm not telling you: I DO NOT and WILL NOT subscribe to the proven method of "governance at the lowest level!!" In truth, the best way to govern is to "get the Hell outta the way and let the people govern!!" That's not MY WAY; that's not the way to amass more and more control over as many aspects of American life as possible. If logic were to play a part in my administration, it would dictate that we let the lowest level of governance dictate funding and acedemic requirements, to their best advantage. The people living the the various school districts can best elucidate their requirements. One thing I have noticed though, no one is willing to admit that not every student is "college material." They may not be ready for the advanced level of study, they may have interests better served by some other learning environment. These conditions and others, should be addressed in every district, nationwide!!]
As a nation, we are engaged in many important endeavors: improving the economy, reforming the health care system, encouraging innovation in energy and other growth industries of the 21st century. But our success in these efforts – and our success in the future as a people – will ultimately depend on what happens long before an entrepreneur opens his doors, or a nurse walks the rounds, or a scientist steps into her laboratory. Our future is determined each and every day, when our children enter the classroom, ready to learn and brimming with promise.
What I'm not telling you: Now, we must have the revisionists hard at work--writing textbooks. For all this obfuscation to work, we must have history written the way WE want it!! We've already nearly completed shredding the U.S. Constitution, what with the "Slaughter Solution." This piece of unconstitutional drivel is questionable in passing judicial muster; I think my handlers and the more fascist members of the House can slide it by the judges. On the post-secondary education push; this is done annually by each college administration. They and I will not admit that not every high school graduate is NOT college material. A huge hoax has been perpetrated upon the parents of college age students!! Young adults go to college with no real idea of what they want to do in life. Some of these students drop out after the first semester; having wasted Mom and Dad's money; having wasted a federal grant; possibly having wasted a scholarship; having been left with a student loan they'll rebel against paying. What did they ultimately learn: how to puke their guts out on any given night--Thursday through Sunday!!! So much for ANYBODY's federal push for college students!!]
It’s that promise we must help them fulfill. Thank you.
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