Presidential Candidates Must Talk More About Education!

A call to all 2008 presidential candidates, you must talk more about education. Our schools are falling behind and are making little progress to keep up. Ohio is a perfect example of what is happening all across the Country. About 40,000 Ohio students will fail to graduate with their peers this spring, a dropout rate that will cost the state an estimated $10.6 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity. If we don’t do something about this the U.S. is going down, and we will not be able to maintain our standard of living.

This is a crucial issue that is not getting enough airtime. The topic of education has been overshadowed by the economy, war, health care and gas prices.

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain, wake-up! Will you push education to the forefront? Will you make education a national priority? Will you elevate the discussion of education and have a vigorous and thorough dialogue about education reform?

We Have To Act Now!

We have to make our voices heard and push the 2008 presidential candidates for a vigorous and thorough dialogue about education. Every year, more than 1.2 million students drop out of high school a year. If we don’t demand improvements in our education system become a priority we are all going to suffer.

First Lady of California Maria Shriver takes an “It’s All About We” approach to help solve critical issues in California. She believes people working together can transform and achieve a positive legacy for California.

I think we need to take an “It’s All About We” approach to change the state of our educational system and create a positive legacy for our Country. We need to contact our senators and let them know we want the candidates discussing education and No Child Left Behind. We need to tell our presidential candidates we want education reform and No Child Left Behind brought to the table for discussion.

Do we want to wait any longer while more students drop out and end up without the necessary tools to succeed in life?

What is happening to the Failing Schools?

In numerous impoverished schools around the country students labor diligently to increase their test scores, but the students have failed to meet federal testing benchmarks under the No Child Left Behind Act. Prompted by a campaign to turn around persistently low standardized test scores, schools are working hard to evolve and improve at providing education. But these same schools are facing escalating sanctions and come closer to being shut down or totally overhauled, with their teachers and administrators replaced.

These are more than just failing schools. They are schools where parents, teachers, students, and principals, are pulling together and working to rebuild the school system. These are schools showing glimmers of progress. The New York Times. These are schools that want to educate children, but need more economic support and resources. If nothing changes with NCLB, what is going to happen to these schools? Although there is not an easy solution, this needs to be debated about in the presidential campaign. How can we get the candidates talking?

We Must Talk About America’s Silent Epidemic

There’s a tragic epidemic in America and you may not even realize it. Capable students are leaving high school without a diploma at alarming rates.

The researchers of The Silent Epidemic Report, March 2006, went directly to the source—students—and found a disastrous situation. Millions of youth ages 16 to 25 do not have a high school diploma and are not enrolled in school. This dropout situation has not improved much during the past few decades since education reform has been high on the public agenda. Lets wake-up! I think educators, policymakers, and other leaders, need to put this issue on the table for discussion among candidates in the current presidential election debates.

We need to talk about the issues of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and that it may not be helping solve the dropout problem. I know many people think NCLB needs a serious overhaul, and others think it’s not a complete failure. But, in all my searching, I have yet to find anyone who thinks NCLB is a complete success.

It disturbs me education doesn’t take a higher priority in the campaign debate. I’m taking an advanced public relations writing course at the University of Oregon. We are researching and writing about NCLB with the goal that it will be on the agenda for debate by the presidential candidates. I want to get people talking about the state of education in America and let our future leaders know that NCLB needs to be on the table for discussion. What do you think? Will you join me in an email campaign to get education on the table for debate?