Alan Keyes: Teaching the essentials

WND ^ | Saturday, December 22, 2001 | Alan Keyes

[Gelato]

Ping!

[Gelato]

Bump!

[Gelato]

Thought you might be interested in this article

[Keyes For President]

Looks like you beat me by a couple of minutes!

:-)

Another good constructive article from Dr. Keyes on education reform.

Merry Christmas to all!

[Gelato]

Looks like you beat me by a couple of minutes!

You were late! ;)

Merry Christmas!

[Keyes For President]

The good news is that federal pressure and control will be applied slowly, and curricular pressure will be applied only indirectly through a new testing regime that will serve as a benchmark for the states' own measures, not as the basis for direct federal control. Accordingly, much state autonomy will actually remain – if the states and their citizenry vigorously claim and exercise it.

We must be vigilant at the state level to maintain and increase local control of the education system. Of course the best way we as individuals can control our own children's education is by sending them to private schools and eliminate the goevernment schools system all together.

[Gelato]

We must be vigilant at the state level to maintain and increase local control of the education system. Of course the best way we as individuals can control our own children's education is by sending them to private schools and eliminate the goevernment schools system all together.

Home-schooling works, too. Of course, that's the most private of private schools.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

FYI

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Not up to par for Keyes. I miss the days when he was on radio, talking to the street, and focusing a lot of attention on the Ron Brown crash. He was in his prime, back then. This is too advanced for most people to enjoy reading. Not a word about School Choice. A lot of people don't even know what school choice is. Nothing about charter schools.

Mind you, it isn't bad writing. But I know Keyes can do much better when he is fired up. He once moved my liberal aunt to tears when he talked about Ron Brown.

Maybe he is hoping for a cabinet post and wants to avoid too much conflict? Daschle would never allow it.

Freegards....

[Amelia]

This is particularly true in the realm of civic education which, as Jefferson pointed out, is – after elementary literacy and arithmetic – the chief purpose of education.

Actually, if they could just master elementary literacy and arithmetic, it would be a great improvement.

Of course the best way we as individuals can control our own children's education is by sending them to private schools and eliminate the goevernment schools system all together.

Ain't gonna happen. It might happen in your neighborhood, but the "red zones" are always going to be dependent on the public schools, at least as long as the parents in those areas are largely poor and ignorant, or until vouchers are available.

[Gelato]

And a renewed and increased citizen devotion to real civic education in response to last week's deformation of national education policy will do much to overcome the damage even of so ill-conceived a law.

That's the key: if citizens want education to be a local, not federal, issue, they must get involved. It is the failure of citizens get involved that causes the expanded federal role.

[Gelato]

Maybe he is hoping for a cabinet post and wants to avoid too much conflict?

He's implicitly criticizing the Bush administration's education agenda. I doubt he's doing this for a cabinet post.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

True.

[hattend]

Bump for Dr. Keyes

[Symix]

>I miss the days when he was on radio, talking to the street, ...

I missed those days too - only I was watching his radio show on TV - he really had a fire in his belly and the power to convince. What ever happened to that station - can't even remember its name now.

[Keyes For President]

the "red zones" are always going to be dependent on the public schools, at least as long as the parents in those areas are largely poor and ignorant, or until vouchers are available.

True. Until then we must keep working to reform the public school system:

We would do well to imitate the zeal of the liberal ideologues whose influence we are seeking to replace. They understand that the standards and materials used in teaching young Americans about America are not trophies to be collected, but tools to be used in the formation of young souls, and they set about their task with energy and determination whenever they see the chance. We should be no less energetic and determined in the task of reclaiming and reshaping the souls of our young people for the cause of true national virtue.

Regards,

[Keyes For President]

The new consensus in Washington for federal educational activism is indeed bad news. But as with all bad news, what finally matters is our response. A world made safe from organized terror will more than redeem the pain of Sept. 11. And a renewed and increased citizen devotion to real civic education in response to last week's deformation of national education policy will do much to overcome the damage even of so ill-conceived a law.

Dr. Keyes, like Ronald Reagan, always the eternal optimist.

[Gelato]

bump!

[rdf]

Thanks for the Ping! It's a thoughtful and careful piece, and it would be nice to see folks who have had a bone to pick with Keyes come in and discuss it.

There is information about the state initiatives Keyes mentions at the DF website.

Merry Christmas to all,

Richard F.