Mr. President, welcome to Austin! I was looking over your “Forward” education platform and I thought I would share it with the readers of Cloaking Inequity. I think they will be super excited about your progressive stances on education.

The Democrat’s strategy is based on sound principle. Parents have the right to choose the best school for their children…we should increase flexibility from federal regulation. We should explore a new generation of break-the-mold New American Schools.

Unions

Too many government and union rules have burdened our schools.

We also believe that powerful unions and special interest groups should not be the driving force in education reform.

Alternative Certification

Alternative certification can bring desperately needed new people into the teaching profession.

We support efforts to open the teaching profession by reforming the certification system now barring many talented men and women from the classroom.

School Choice

We have an uncompromising commitment to improve public education—which means assuring that our schools produce well-educated, responsible citizens—not the maintenance of a government monopoly over the means of educating.

America needs public, private, and parochial schools.

Parents… should have the right not only to participate in their child’s education, but to choose for their children among the broadest array of educational choices, without regard to their income.

The President has shown unprecedented leadership for the most important education goal of all: helping middle and low income families enjoy the same choice of schools—public, private, or religious—that families with more resources already have.

Accountability, Assessments, and Standards

Standards and assessments should be raised, not reduced to a lowest common denominator.

We have seen real progress. Perhaps most important, though, is that President Obama has fostered a national debate on education that has challenged every American to get involved… New and tougher standards and assessments are being established for what our children should know.

The critical public mission in education is to set tough, clear standards of achievement and ensure that those who educate our children are accountable for meeting them. This is not just a matter of plans or dollars.

Competency testing and merit pay for teachers are essential elements of such accountability.

I recently had a discussion with several faculty members about suspect plagiarism in their courses. They were very concerned with term papers that were bought online and that ideas were not attributed to their original authors. That’s when it dawned on me; we are facing the same issue in the current educational policy environment.

The Democrats’ current approach to educational policy is a sure case of plagiarism. What you just read was not the Democrats or Obama’s platform. What you see above are all direct excerpts George Bush’s 1992 Republican platform (except of course where I replaced Republican with Democrat and Bush with Obama. I also took out the word liberal before special interest so not to give away the ruse).

Why has Obama not created “change” in education? Why has NCLB been left alone— even enhanced via “waivers”? I suspect because President Obama’s ideas (and Arne Duncan’s) are eerily similar to the Republican’s ideas of the 1990s. He should at least give them credit so they can’t be accused of plagiarism.

Really, Mr. President, you are quite retro when it comes to education policy, you know an antonym of “Change.”

So, I have a feeling I know why I am not invited to your Austin event trumpeting education this week.

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