We cant spell failure without U Obama

In response to Chase Stewarts blog written on May 5, 2009.

Chase,

I can give Obama a grade. Unfortunately there is no known letter that portrays the "mell of a hess" he is getting us into. You said "Obama's budget would raise taxes by $1.4- trillion over ten years and would double the national debt to over $15-trillion". As I recall while Obama was campaigning he said “if you make less than $300,00…wait $250,000 oh gosh…..Ah yes his last number was $150,000 that you would not see your taxes raised by a single dime” Well who do you think is going to pay for the “stimulus” ? The taxpayers, that’s who. While we’re at it, what is going to happen when the stimulus money has run out? All the jobs that were created to “stimulate” the economy will no longer be plausible. The states that took the money will no longer be able to afford to pay the wages.

The left wing believes it is the most productive 100 days because they get off on big government. The more people that rely on them, the more votes they will get.And as for his relations with our enemies, it is simply embarrassing to our Country that we appear to be running away with our tails between our legs. He is apologizing for all the wrongs done by the previous administration. The most powerful man on earth should not bow to anyone. He should not be shaking hands with a man who has time and time again spoken against America.

Obama will go down in history for being the first African-American elected as President of the United States. He will also go down in history for failing to act on his promises, as well as putting this country in more debt than all previous presidents combined.

Flushing Money Down the Toilet

This past week while studying for the 4th and final test for our government class, I thought it was interesting reading about how Texas has such low per capita funding for students. The result given was the low graduation rate and less than stellar SAT scores.

However I am not so quick to begin writing letters to our Texas Legislator and demand higher funding for schools. I am not convinced that more money equals higher academic performance. I simply use examples of a number of states and cities that have already tried higher funding. In my examples, funding was between 25%-350% more than Texas spends.

However, despite the much higher funding per student, scholastic performance had not improved. In South Carolina for instance, the districts with the highest concentration of low-income families received the most money. These districts are among the lowest performing in the state.

Another fantastic example is schools within our nation’s capitol. Washington D.C. schools are spending astronomical amounts of money per student despite some of the lowest performing schools in the country. The author of the article Andrew J. Coulson points out that at the time this article was written, D.C. was spending more per student than the cost of tuition at Sidwell Friends. S.F. is where Chelsea Clinton attended in the 90’s while living in the White House. It goes without saying the graduation rate and academic performance test scores at S.F. are much higher than local public schools. This coincidentally, is the same school President Obama is sending his children.

With this information I must ask the question. Is funding directly related to better performance? The answer is no. It is something much deeper than just money. Texas needs to completely re-evaluate its education policy. Not unlike when we started bussing students to reduce segregation. Why not bus students from east Austin to Westlake. Education is obviously an extremely important issue, so a farther drive and a little more gas money is worth it in my opinion.

Also, I believe the voucher system should be looked into for a serious contender. I know the separation of Church and State is an issue for some. However there are many private schools in the city that are not based on religion. The teachers make more money also. And the performance of students is well above average.

In no way is this a racist comment but African-American and Hispanic students seem the most at risk of not graduating. If we can focus on the cause of the problem the effects will diminish. By contracting to private companies we can increase the number of schools and lower the number of students per teacher giving more attention to students who are at risk. Maybe this isn’t politically correct but it might work.

In closing, I know nothing I have said is new and hasn’t been said before, but the problem remains. We must do something about our education system. I do not believe it involves putting more money into the system is a fix. Nor are any of the ideas proposed in this blog. A combination of the two however could lead to surprising results. The future of Texas really rests on the outcome of the success of our children. Someone has to take care of us. With the rising cost of “life” for an aging generation, a paycheck from Burger King just isn’t going to cut it.