Education Matters

Article 1

The article “Education Standards Likely to See Toughening” found in the New York Times is about rumors of the Obama administration using Congressional rewriting of the federal law to toughen requirements on things such as teacher quality and academic standards. This plan would also intensify the focus on helping failing schools. Even with these ideas from the Obama administration it still seems as though he is following in Bush’s steps on the position of No Child Left Behind. As part of the economic stimulus law that President Obama signed money went to public education and emergency education aid. Some of the requirements of this are that governors pledge to improve the quality of standardized tests and raise standards. The article also talks about other plans that are in the work to strengthen the education system.

Overall I found this article to be very interesting. I believe that education is very important and agree with the idea of the standards becoming tougher. I liked how many people were interview for this article as well as the fact that they said all the plans aren’t exposed yet. This gives me hope that there is more to this plan that will help education standards even more. One thing that I did not like was that Obama is continuing with No Child Left Behind. I think that No Child Left Behind is a good idea but I think that it should be revised. The article did mention how the stimulus would allow each state to add to the idea but I feel like it should be changed and not be as much standardized testing. Education is very important and I am happy that the current administration is trying to improve it.

Article 2

The article “Recession Stalls State-Financed Pre-Kindergarten, but Federal Money May Help” is about how in past years many schools were able to fund pre-kindergarten classes but with the current state of the economy and the recession has stalled state-funded pre-kindergarten programs. Before the current state of the economy state-supported pre-kindergarten programs were popular and able to be funded but now nine states have already announced that they will be cutting programs. President Bush was a supporter of education and allowed there to room in the budget for the programs. President Obama has created room in the stimulus package for federal money to help programs such as Head Start. The article goes on to talk about how funding for these programs have increased over the years as well as how many families they provide for.

Overall I liked this article. When I first started reading it I was worried because states are cutting funding to their pre-kindergarten programs which I believe are very important. After reading more I agree with President Obama allowing federal money to be given to help fund these programs. Education is something that is very important and I feel like it sometimes isn’t portrayed that way. I think the key to the future is our children who need the best education that they can receive.