Mitt Romney is on a new crusade to solve ‘the crisis of American education,’ which he believes is third-worldly and “the civil rights issue of our era.”
Speaking at the Education Nation Summit in New York on Tuesday, Romney gave an overview of his educational reforms, which so far include: collapsing the U.S. Education Department (or at least de-funding it by $115 billion), reintroducing private lenders into the federal loan system (so that profits can be reaped from debt-ridden kids), and dumping unions for teachers, who like a crowd of shepherd-less sheep, have clearly lost their way.
As for the kids themselves, smaller classroom size is of no importance according to this one McKinsey report about Finland Romney read in 2007 (debunked by The Washington Post ) and Head Start programs will be slashed. If low-income and special needs students want a better education, they can figure out a way to attend a charter school through a private voucher system, which is always the best way to solve every social problem. As for restructuring public schools – Romney has no sparkling thoughts, but encourages parents to become ‘more involved.’
If these reforms don’t solve the crisis of American education, then – well – Romney thinks that’s just to be expected. As he put it, his proposals do not mean that every child is going to be able to benefit from a terrific education because “that’s not going to be available for the entire nation.” Romney’s white paper proposal for educational reforms, however, will still be called A Chance For Every Child.
The cost of higher education has also been tackled head-on by Romney, and is currently crippling the economy. The key to financing college or grad school, as Romney told one law student recently, is to realize that there is no place to find “really cheap or free money to pay for everyone’s education.” So the best thing to do is to cash in stocks from your parents like Romney did, or realize you are on your own as far as tuition is concerned, and just ‘shop around.’
