Putting Lipstick on a Pig: McCain's Education Policy

About a week ago, I gave the Obama team an 'F' on education policy. Well, this week McCain spoke and his sorry excuse was to say that, "A pitbull with lipstick ate my education policy." Furthermore, he backtracked and obfuscated on two ideas that I particularly liked, a.) end NCLB and b.) eliminate the Department of Education.

By retarding the education conversation, I decided to simply treat McCain's antics like a candidate more suited to greet shopper's at special interest events rather than influence something as important as child development. Rather than fail him, he qualifies for Special Ed. In keeping with Sarah Palin's gift of creating snarky names for things she loves we will refer to the McCain-Palin education policy as the Greeter policy.

The Greeter policy puts lipstick on the Bush education policy that McCain and Palin plan to continue and expand. The Bush-McCain-Palin policy is the bloated pig of NCLB trussed up with right-wing union-bashing, redecorated big government interference with local issues, and another four years of suppressing and silencing education critics.

This does not reach across partisan nor professional differences. This is Bush all over again.

NO THANKS! Don't tell a reform story to gullible voters when you want their vote and plan more Washington interference with schools to your cronies. That's bad form.

Here's McCain's words from the acceptance speech. I'll bold the troubling and polarizing rhetoric.

Education is the civil rights issue of this century. Equal access to public education has been gained. But what is the value of access to a failing school? We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition, empower parents with choice, remove barriers to qualified instructors, attract and reward good teachers, and help bad teachers find another line of work.

When a public school fails to meet its obligations to students, parents deserve a choice in the education of their children. And I intend to give it to them. Some may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private one. Many will choose a charter school. But they will have that choice and their children will have that opportunity.

Sen. Obama wants our schools to answer to unions and entrenched bureaucracies. I want schools to answer to parents and students. And when I'm president, they will.

The entire concept of failing schools is a NCLB myth invented by neocons. The Greeter policy firmly entrenches this idea into the Bush-McCain-Palin strategy. Without it, an intelligent conversation can take place about education.

Education is not a shopping trip. And public schools, unions, and so-called bad teachers cannot cure inadequate i.q., learning disabilities, willful ignorance, poverty, and a slew of cultural phenomenon that ails society. The Greeter policy is solely a strategy to bully and beat up public schools, steal the public funds and enrich cronies already wallowing in stolen national wealth.

I feel cheated by the Republican platform and Americans should demand their money back from the Bush years of lies and social thievery.

Obama's policy still fails but they haven't written public schools off. That counts for extra credit in my book.