Education

Prior presidential campaigns demonstrated that the issues dominating the candidates’ debates often have little to do with their defining positions once in office. JFK and Nixon argued about Quemoy and Matsu, which was forgotten when the campaign ended. More recently, all the wonky issues that Gov. Clinton mastered in his debates with Bush I were eclipsed on day one of his assumption of office, when he surfaced his contentious “Don’t ask; don’t tell” policy about gays in the military.

When the next president takes office — it looks like, and I hope it will be, Sen. Obama — he will face a devastated economy and an unpopular war. Of course, he will throw his administration into those demanding matters. But one initial issue he will face immediately, one that he was never asked about in all the primaries and presidential debates, is where he’ll send his daughters to school. Read more...

Promising every person in America a college education will not necessarily solve our talent dilemma.

As it stands now, we are forced to either export many of our technical industries abroad or rely on a broken immigration bureaucracy to import talent to America. Meanwhile, the rest of the developed world and much of the developing world has far surpassed America in developing the math and science talent needed to keep us competitive.

Assuring that everyone, irrespective of talent or dedication, can have access to a college education does not solve this problem. Rather, imposing rigorous standards in early education assures that students’ talents and abilities are nurtured and honed before they reach the college level. Read more...

Several college presidents are calling for a lower drinking age, as reported in a front-page story in The Washington Post (“Lower Drinking Age Is Criticized”):

“On the face of it, the notion seems counterintuitive, but to the Presidents of some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges, it makes a lot of sense: Lowering the legal drinking age might get students to drink less. But any chance for the academic leaders to begin a public discussion of their theory — that allowing people as young as 18 to drink legally might promote moderation — has been lost in a wave of criticism from health experts, transportation officials, government leaders and opponents of drunk driving.” Read more...

When my college alma mater, Syracuse University, won college basketball’s Final Four several years ago, I was proud of the team and especially its star, Carmelo Anthony. I discussed a book on Syracuse basketball with Coach Jim Boeheim. Anthony left college after one year and his MVP performance in that Final Four. Since then, he’s had an athletically impressive and lucrative career playing professional basketball in Denver.

I felt less pride reading his quoted remark in The Washington Post Sports section last Sunday. Anthony commented about his slump in the Beijing Olympics, where he and his superstar teammates are blazing the competition. The Post quoted Anthony: “I was asked, where has my offense went? It ain’t go nowhere.” Read more...

Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., doesn’t like to conspicuously make waves. It is not in the desired nature of this region in the heart of the South. But several weeks ago this venerable old Southern institution got big headlines when it announced that it intended to drop SATs as mandatory for incoming freshmen in an effort to ease stress on student test takers.

First commentary was that it was a big mistake. But Wake Forest President Nathan O. Hatch was right to drop mandatory SATs. Others will soon follow.

Wake Forest usually comes to mind up here in New England when either Maya Angelou, who teaches there, is mentioned, or Arnold Palmer, who, like a bunch of other great golfers, went to school there. Read more...

Life 50 years ago moved at a slower, but nonetheless progressive, pace. The use of drugs was heavily looked down upon. Young ladies during that era would have been banned and shamed for dressing and acting promiscuously. It was demanded of young men to have respect for themselves and those around them. Family values played a major part in shaping the lives of the next generation, and our parents were our early models for God. Their unconditional love taught their offspring about the cruel and challenging world they would eventually face. Equally important, parents were the first line of support for their emotional needs, basic values and various norms. From such interactions, a child’s personality and character were formed. Read more...

For 52 years, the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation has been keeping local kids off the streets by providing them a safe haven to do homework, play tennis and set personal goals. WTEF has a 100 percent graduation rate in which kids frequently achieve athletic and academic scholarships.

When tennis legend and world class philanthropist Andre Agassi came to our capital city on April 11 to receive WTEF’s Champion of Tennis Award, it was an event to remember. Agassi hit the courts at the Fitzgerald Tennis Center with Reps. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Fred Upton (R-Mich.), former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) and various local media and business big shots thrilled to huff and puff with the famous champ. Read more...

On the front page of The Washington Post today came this story: “In his seven years, Randy Castro has been an aspiring soccer player, an accomplished Lego architect and a Royal Ranger at his Pentecostal church. He also, according to his elementary school record, sexually harassed a first-grade classmate.”



The story went on to say, “During recess at his Woodbridge school one day in November, when he was 6, he said, he smacked the classmate's bottom. The girl told the teacher. The teacher took Randy to the principal, who told him such behavior was inappropriate. School officials wrote an incident report calling it ‘Sexual Touching Against Student, Offensive,’ which will remain on his student record permanently. Then, as Randy sat in the principal's office, they called the police.”

So this is what we have become as a society. Calling the police on a 6-year-old boy when he smacks a girl on the rear end.

And people wonder why our schools are in such trouble. Read more...

Across the nation, the dropout rates for high school students are appallingly high.

Here in the District of Columbia, where schools are being closed throughout the city, more than 40 percent of our students drop out, an inexcusable number in the capital of our nation in 2008.

I've been a baseball fan all my life, was a student athlete in school, and in fact I was once offered a tryout for the Dodgers at third base (though I told the scout he caught me on a good day, and I'd last an hour in spring training!).

As predisposed towards sports as I am, I think it's outrageous and ridiculous that the powers-that-be of our community rally like the 101st Airborne at Normandy to build a high-priced new baseball stadium, while schools are being closed and more than 40 percent of our kids don’t graduate. Read more...

It was just reported that three-quarters of high school students in Detroit and Cleveland have dropped out of high school because they sense that a high school diploma serves them no purpose. This is a trend that is beginning to sweep across America's inner cities. Many experts are just stunned and overwhelmed about the implications of this development.

Why do we assume that young people today know what work ethic, discipline, sacrifice, moral striving and overcoming challenges in life is about? There is an overwhelming number of adults today who have never been taught these concepts and continue to set this example at home before their kids.

America's only chance of putting the genie back in the bottle is mandatory two-year military service immediately following high school for young men across the board (with no possibility of these youngsters ever serving in combat unless it's their choice). I have often advocated, in speeches around the country, that there should be conscription service for all high school students (men and women) after graduation. Read more...