YOUR COMMENTS

Blaming some kids' school performance on lack of motivation (of students and parents) is not so easily applied to children in poverty. It comes down to Maslow's hierarchy of needs: at the top being things like safety, food and shelter. Having taught in a very poor school, I can tell you that MOST of my kids did not have all 3, if even 1, of these necessities. So how "motivated" can they be to complete an English paper (esp. if they have to go home and take care of silbings, work to buy food, and the electricity is turned off)? And blaming the parents is no better logic considering they grew up under the same circumstances. Education is one way, if not the only way, to break this cycle. And I do not teach my kids to see themselves as victims. Rather, I tell them they need to take responsiblity for their own education and lives. They are lucky to live in a country in which they can get a free education (even if there are 30-40 kids packed into a classroom with inadequate heating and no A/C; no sports, arts, student council, etc. to help motivate them and give them a sense of community few of them can get outside of school, not to mention building any kind of resume for work or college; and not enough books for kids to take them home to study)? I tell them that education is the only way to not end up like their parents. But again, how much can they realize this when most of them do not live with one parent, and barely any with two; they have to worry about food, shelter and safety on a daily basis and are literally trying to survive one day at a time; and then the educational system and society tells them they don't deserve what kids who are already advantaged receive? And my kids are far from stupid: they realize what putting them in a building that would not be approved for prisoners says to them: they do not matter. They have already been written off. There are no expectations for them (even if there are high expectations set by teachers and/or parents, there is so much telling them otherwise). Why do the people who need the most get the least? Why has education become a system which perpetuates the status quo instead of trying to provide equal opportunties?
- Nicole, Delray Beach, FL

It is sad that so many people fall back on the excuse of, "We have to work outside the home, so we can't home-school!"

In families with two working parents of roughly the same income, one of those parents is working solely to pay taxes. There is zero gain in having both parents work.

If we will STOP submitting to these insane top-down mandates like NCLB, mandatory kindergarten, the Claremont decisions, etc., etc., and demand real fiscal responsibility, we would see taxes fall so drastically that it would make more sense to have one parent stay home.

Families could be families again. Is that too much to ask?
- Kevin, Lancaster

My family makes a significant financial sacrifice in order to homeschool. My kids are my responsibility, not Barack Obama's. In instances where government must intervene or assist in education, it should only do so at the state and local level, keeping the decision-making as close to the family as possible. We give up our own money through endless taxes and inflation only to send it to Washington where we get to fight with politicians and lobbyists over who gets a slice of the pie. If instead of creating yet another huge federal program we saved that money and cut some taxes, maybe folks who need the childcare could afford to select their own preschool. Individualism and self-determination are great values, ones I hope to teach my children. As a father I would not be doing right by my kids to stand aside and let the federal government take away my family's right to choose our own path.
- Kevin Olson, Nashua

Melanie,
You stated, "Without help from the federal government NH children are going to continue to miss out on an education!"

My question to you is this: Could you tell me where exactly there are children in New Hampshire who are MISSING OUT on an education? Just check the statistics. New Hampshire kids are near the top of the nation in the percentage of high school students who go on to college. Where are all of these unfortunate souls who are missing out? There will ALWAYS be those who fail to take advantage of the public education opportunities afforded to them by the taxpayers. If you are going to cite the poor performance of a relative handful of students as an indictment of our schools poor performance, I will cite the relative handful of NH high schoolers who will be attending Ivy League schools next year as proof that we have one of the best public school systems in the nation. Poor school performance has little to do with the school and A LOT to do with the motivation of the child and the parent. Let me remind you: If monetary support and government involvement were all that were necessary to insure high performing public schools, Washington, DC would have the best education system in the western world. The butt in the school desk is far more important than the buttheads in Washington and Concord.
- Mike, Manchester

The United States has fallen drastically from the highest status it once enjoyed. Unfortunately, teachers in many areas are now employed part time and most do not have a degree in education, some have no degree what-so-ever. Teaching a subject from a textbook that was never seen before the class was assigned is not the best method approach in my opinion. I have 3 degrees and come from a family of teachers (past) who were real teachers. That is what we need, not just degrees in the lower classrooms. Obama is addressing an issue that will help promote better education and very likely the quality of teachers in the schools. Good for the parents and the country.
- Howard, Lou, Seale, AL

Marc, look outside your own little world for a moment and try and see that these education proposals aren't really aimed at helping New Hampshire families perse. In case you didn't know, there are people out there who live in urban areas who rely on public schools to educate their children because that may be the only real chance they have of getting ahead. These schools have trouble maintaining standards because they can't attract competent teachers. Sometimes you have to be willing to sacrifice for the good of others. Oh, and the non-profit governement programs dedicating themselves to helping these people improve their quality of life, were created by democrats. You talk about the government like it's some inpenetrable institution. We are the government.
- Justin, Hooksett

Marc, that's a gross perversion of what the plan is trying to accomplish. In case you haven't taken notice, there is a problem with the nation's education system, due in part to the fact that we can't get people to be teachers anymore. School systems have become businesses and those in charge have forgotten that it's about educating our youth, not making money. What Barack is trying to do is fix this problem. This is no different from any other incentive program that has happened in other discipline, and paying for college will make education a much more viable route for those individuals who want to do it, but feel they just won't be able to afford it.
- Jacob, Logos

Hey Melanie, I'll take care of my children thank you. The less the government interferes, the better our country will be.

All these programs promote is dependence on government. When they have achieved a people of total dependence on government, they will be mandating everything from you cna't smoke in a private establishment, to you can't decide where and how the children in your town will be educated.

OOOPS, we are already there........ I guess when I have to make other decisions as to how I want my children and I to live, I'll have to call my nanny government and ask.


Thank you nanny government for watching out for me as I and the rest of the citizens are clearly not capable for making our own decisions.
- Marc, Raymond

Not all parents have the luxury of homeschooling their kids as they have to work outside the home to support their families. The state has not been able to provide support to preschool education. Without help from the federal government NH children are going to continue to miss out on an education! Go Barack for seeing this need!
- Melanie, Nashua

Chris, unfortunately we've already lost the battle over "informed" or "educated" people making decisions on education. It's called No Child Left Behind, with edicts handed down by Washington and Concord bureaucrats who have never been in a classroom and think it's just wonderful for teachers to "teach to the test." That's how accountability works today.
- Roger, Hooksett

Thank god I homeschool. More unnecessary and unwelcome intrusion into our children's lives courtesy of the federal government. 0-5 education? You have to be joking, right? At what point would actual PARENTS get to make child-rearing decisions in sucha a program? This would be laughable if it wasn't so frightening....
- Kevin Olson, Nashua

Rich, Yes they do and they are called Republicans. The Democrats will promise you anything to get you to vote for them. Reality is that most of their plans will fail. The Democrats remind me of a love sick teenager, not thinking clearly, and doing all the wrong things.
- Robert, Concord, NH

I want to know who constitutes each candidate's "advisors" regarding education, health, etc. For education, the people better have Phd's in education from reputable schools and have written books on how children learn best, etc. We do not need people making decisions in areas when they know nothing about it or some advisor with a degree in economics thinks he knows how to run a school and what will get students to learn best.
- Chris, Bedford

The limitations of federal power rest in the ability of a state to refuse to allow them that power, which because states are so dependent on federal dollars, they will not. Its like a drug, once you are hooked on federal dollars, they own you. Our founding fathers addressed this by limiting the role of a centralized government, but this concept has been ruined by money and power hungry career polititians.
- Mark, Candia

Don't any of the presidential candidates understand that there are constitutional limitations to federal power?
- Rich, Derry