Bush's ed record: A student speaks

In his bid for the White House, George W. Bush campaigned heavily on his education record as governor of the state of Texas. Americans were bombarded with clich?s such as "local control" and "greater accountability." Many conservatives were deceived and considered Bush to be in favor of less government intervention in educational affairs.

However, as a high-school senior in Texas' public education system, I have seen the liberal -- sometimes socialistic -- side of George W. Bush's education record.

Abolishing the Department of Education was formerly one of the tenets of conservatism. It was understood that the department was controlled by humanists and socialists who shared the utopian dreams of educational visionary John Dewey.

Unfortunately, most politicians now regard this view as outdated and unpalatable. President Bush not only advocates maintaining the department, but also hopes to throw even more money into the failing system. It seems that the power of the federal government in educational affairs under a Bush administration will continue to rise, whether or not any improvements are evident.

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The Bush campaign's strategic use of language in the area of local control is so skillful that it is difficult for the average person to navigate the haze that surrounds the truth. Returning control of education to the local level is a theme that Republicans have capitalized on for many years, as it is wildly popular with their supporters. Bush made this a pillar of his campaign, claiming that he would offer states "freedom from federal regulation," but would hold them "accountable for results."

Offering states "freedom from federal regulation," but holding them "accountable for results" is wholly paradoxical. If the federal government holds states accountable for their academic performance, then there is no true freedom from federal regulation.

For example, Bush plans to strip federal funds from low-performing schools and make them available for parents to use as they deem fit. This would be the implementation of his "school choice" or voucher proposal. School choice sounds noble, but it will be the federal government -- specifically the social engineers at the Department of Education -- "choosing" what constitutes a low-performing school. Bush criticized Al Gore's tax plan for its selectivity, yet he is doing the same thing in his voucher proposal.

Under the Bush plan, states will still be forced to conform to the federal government's standards if they wish to continue receiving federal funds. Same game. Different name.

The use of standardized tests to measure school performance is another one of President Bush's education platforms. Bush's website states that he "believes that schools must have clear, measurable goals focused on basic skills and essential knowledge. There must be regular testing to ensure that the goals are being met. Tests should be developed by the states themselves."

Texas has such a system. Despite the rhetoric, it is a failure. I speak as a student sitting in the classrooms of one of the best public school districts in the state. Basic skills and essential knowledge are encapsulated in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) program, which burdens educators with unnecessary documentation and mandates the teaching of certain objectives. Regular testing is conducted through the use of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), which has obliterated genuine teaching in many classrooms.

In the Summer 2000 edition of the Texas Eagle Forum's publication, Torch, conservative educational advocate and author Donna Garner cited the "loss of local control" as the reason she was ending her 27-year public-school teaching career in order to teach at a private school. She correctly states that the TEKS elements "require students to spend huge chunks of time producing performance-based projects," and force Texas teachers "to quit teaching the basics of grammar, spelling and composition."

There is significant pressure placed on schools to receive a good rating from the Texas Education Association, a rating which is primarily based on a district's TAAS scores. This results in administrators pushing TAAS preparation on classroom teachers to the point that months and, in some cases, entire years are spent preparing for these tests.

Rather than having their students read literature and write essays, many English teachers spend an inordinate amount of time helping students find "the main idea" from politically correct pieces concerning the treatment of Native Americans or the plight of endangered birds. This is not entirely the fault of the teachers, for they oftentimes fear losing their jobs if their students do not perform adequately on these tests.

The Taxpayer Research Associates of Houston held a news conference in November of 1998 to announce the results of an analysis of the TAAS testing system by an independent panel of experts. Whether this was politically motivated, one can never know, but the results match the opinions and experiences of many Texas students and teachers.

TRA reported that the test was easy to begin with and had grown easier during Bush's time in office. The Texas Education Agency would thus boast of record passing numbers on tests that were becoming progressively easier. The researchers reportedly found that the 10th-grade exit-level math test tested students on skills at the 8th-grade level and below, and that the reading portions of the TAAS were equally simple.

For bright students who have applied themselves through the years, the TAAS test is a joke. No matter how intelligent they are, though, they are often subjected to countless hours of preparation for a test that they could ace anyway and that has no true educational benefit. Slower students, who struggle passing the test, could benefit much more from remedial classes than from TAAS preparation. Schools teach to the test and sacrifice their student's educational development in the process.

Another concern is the way the Texas Education Association reports individual district results. Parents are sent their respective school's results according to each grade and subject tested, which is understandable. However, passing percentages based on race and financial status are also listed. This kind of categorization promotes division between racial and socioeconomic classes. Sadly, our new president, who boasts of "uniting" people, has promoted the use of these tactics.

Possibly the scariest part of George W. Bush's education record is his promotion of Head Start, a Department of Health and Human Services program. Head Start seeks to place low-income children under the age of 5 in a government-controlled learning environment to increase their readiness for kindergarten. Bush boasts of promoting early childhood education "by making the largest investment in early childhood education in Texas history." He claims to have appropriated $200 million for early education programs for low-income preschoolers and $17 million in order to improve reading-readiness and Head Start programs. He brags that this was "the first Texas investment ever in Head Start."

Head Start looks good on paper, but is actually just another "cradle-to-grave" education tactic being pushed on the American people by the country's elite. Conservative watchdogs groups have decried Head Start for its desire to take children away from their parents and place them in government institutions at an early age. In short, it is sugarcoated socialism -- sweet on the outside, rotten at the core.

One of the most telling indicators of Bush's education record is the criticism it received from conservatives Bob Offutt and Donna Ballard, both former Texas State Board of Education members. In January of 2000, with Offutt still on the board and Ballard having recently been defeated, they traveled to Iowa and New Hampshire to endorse Steve Forbes for the presidency and criticize Gov. Bush's education proposals. They said that Texas' education system had actually deteriorated during Bush's tenure. Offutt was soon defeated in the Republican primary by retired educator Dan Montgomery, a moderate. Montgomery was well-financed by Bush supporters and, in an obvious display of retaliation, Bush strategist Karl Rove presided over Offutt's defeat by disparaging him in the media.

Despite the catchy language and impressive statistics, George W. Bush's education record is dismal. He regrettably fails to realize this and believes he knows what is best for the entire country. If Texas is used as the prototype for the other forty-nine states, the "dumbing down" of our nation's children will continue to augment. Individual state capitals will be as local as control gets, with most power being retained by the Department of Education.

When President Bush officially presents his education plan to Congress and the American people, John Dewey will smile from his grave.

T. Landon Pepper, 18, is a freelance writer residing in Borden County, Texas.