i thought the speech as a whole was tremendous, but this part on education really hit home with many: -- “We have been successful too because Americans have known that one's status of birth is not a permanent condition. Americans have believed that you might not be able to control your circumstances but you can control your response to your circumstances. And your greatest ally in controlling your response to your circumstances has been a quality education. But today, today, when I can look at your zip code and I can tell whether you're going to get a good education, can I honestly say it does not matter where you came from, it matters where you are going? The crisis in K-12 education is a threat to the very fabric of who we are. My mom was a teacher. I respect the profession. We need great teachers, not poor ones and not mediocre ones. We have to have high standards for our kids, because self-esteem comes from achievement, not from lax standards and false praise. And we need to give parents greater choice, particularly, particularly poor parents whose kids, very often minorities, are trapped in failing neighborhood schools. This is the civil rights issue of our day. If we do anything less, we can damage generations to joblessness and hopelessness and life on the government dole. If we do anything less, we will endanger our global imperatives for competitiveness. And if we do anything less, we will tear apart the fabric of who we are and cement the turn toward entitlement and grievance.”
She's mostly right---that bit about "cement the turn toward entitlement and grievance", well, she had to get that dig in. But are the Republicans gonna do anything about education for everyone?
Here in Texas the Republicans have helped with education by firing a bunch of teachers and cutting funding for programs such as art and music.
I think she's right, though I'm surprised to see you post it because it reads as such an indictment of the Republican Party.
Always find it interesting that GOP points to the poor when trying to convince people that private school vouchers should be allowed. Curious if those same people would be in favor of such vouchers if they were *only* made available to people under a certain income level (specifically, the poor) or people that live in the so-called "failing neighborhoods"? Or... is the GOP simply using the poor to help make it easy for wealthy people to get the government to help fund their kid's private school tuition?
The Republican party does not exactly have a stellar track record when it comes to implementing their solutions to improving education. Especially in Texas. Fire Teachers. Cut the pay of remaining Teachers. Cut funding for everything except football. Skew books toward political agendas instead of presenting objective factual information. Put politicians in charge of curriculum and textbooks. Deny objective science and replace with political or religious rhetoric. Tell people that women have magic vaginas that will help against unwanted pregnancy. I challenge you to present on area of education that has been improved under Governor Perry here in Texas. Just one.
Not exactly. It would probably be more correct to say "we have been more successful, too, because..." However, I give you a pass due to having obviously received a republican education.
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She is a very gifted woman and speaker. She is probably the brightest member of the Republican power brokers. Having said that, her speech (which was 2x better than Ryan's), while wonderful is simply not consistent with her parties platform. If I am a Republican party member, I want to know why we gets clowns like Romney, Ryan, McCain and Palin paraded out when you have someone like Rice available....
Condi is absolutely right and this is becoming a civil rights issue. Certainly the most important issue in my eyes because it will help so many other things. Has she ever expressed her preferred solution? I am curious wether it goes beyond the stupid voucher plan.
The wall street & military industrial handlers don't want one of their 'power brokers' to make education part of the platform. That's the other 'side's' rhetoric. Keep us divided to prevent progress. The 2 party system sucks. If it was all legit & not a sideshow, we'd have a Huntsman/Rice ticket.
Whenever there is a budget shortage due to taxcuts first thing to get cut is education. Either condi is incompetent or delusional.
