The Department Of Education

I had a discussion recently with a friend of mine regarding Ron's talk of eliminating the Department of Education (ED).  The core of the discussion revolved around an objection to this idea, based on the premise that getting rid of the Dept. would create a society ripe with unequal education.

There are many arguments on both sides of the case for eliminating the Department of Education, and I am not an expert on the subject.  I am the son/grandchild of numerous teachers at various levels of education, and I have only a basic understanding of the impact the ED has on people like my mother, a 15+ year elementary school teacher here in Pennsylvania.

Why would Ron Paul want to abolish the Department?  I think a more confusing question would be why aren't the other 'Republicans' on the stage with him including the same thing in their own platforms.  When the ED was established in 1979/1980, Republicans opposed it fervently, touting it's unconstitutional nature.  Even as recently as the year 2000, the Republican Liberty Caucus passed a resolution to abolish the ED.

Why would we do it?  For the same reason that we need to abolish quite a few other agencies in our federal government.  No single item is independent of others in the current financial and civil crisis.  Given how unsuccessful recent ED programs have been despite enormous increases in available funding, we should realize that as a rule, the ED is a practically useless bureaucracy.  Regardless of the intention, it is failing, and in doing so is just contributing to the downward spiral that our federal government has entered due to its massive overspending and reliance upon the Federal Reserve.

With my understanding of Dr. Paul, I believe that saying he doesn't care about the equal opportunity that should be afforded to children in all parts of the country is a misunderstanding and a poor judgement call.  It is not the responsibility of the federal government to regulate our schools in any way, but rather it is meant for our local and state governments to handle.

If we as citizens are so truly concerned with the welfare of our fellow Americans and the quality of their education, it is up to us to do something about it.  If you need anymore proof that the nation is harmed when our federal government takes charge on issues it's not meant to, you should look no further than the education system and the victims of hurricane Katrina, who are in some areas still in horrible shape thanks to the overwhelming effectiveness of FEMA.

As the failure of programs like the No Child Left Behind Act become more generally accepted and garner more hatred from the educators in our country, it should be our immediate goal to give control of all processes of education back to the states completely.  Our states are more than capable of working together without the intrusion of our national government, and that is what Congressman Paul is working towards.

 

- Andy