Learning is the Most Important Civil Right in the 21st Century

[YOUGET4REAL]

I love you Newt but your a little off base here.

[YOUGET4REAL]

Education in this country will never be reformed until the hold the teachers unions have over it are broken. We also need to abolish the unconstitutional federal Dept. of Ed. so the states can try to find out what works best for them . That way we would have fifty different experiments going on at the same time and other states could adapt what they think would work for them. Just how the voucher program was doing wonders in DC until Obama dropped it without explaination.

[MishuTaste]

Education doesn't have to be expensive if you think about it. We spend billions of tax dollars on education and we have high school seniors reading at the 4th grade level...or not at all! A small community could rent a building for $10,000 a month, hire a teacher for $30,000 a year, and buy some Hooked on Phonics programs. Find a math program that actually works and buy it. That doesn't cost millions of dollars. And you'd have kids reading & solving math problems. Those are the basic skills..

[MishuTaste]

...needed to get an entry-level job after high school. Why spend $1,000,000 on "administrative costs" for a small county? Use that money to hire talented teachers! Offer $30,000 to $50,000 a year for English, Math, and Science teachers. If they're really good, and you see results, PAY THEM! If they're not good, fire them! Zero tolerance for flakey teachers.

[MishuTaste]

If education was privatized, the consumers would DEMAND excellent teachers! And they would demand that their kids pay attention in class and learn something. Because education is "free," a lot of parents take it for granted. It's just a baby-sitting service for them. If you're paying for something, you'll demand quality. That's why private schools are WAY BETTER than public schools. I think all schools should be private. And I think education grants should be private as well.

[dgrsf44]

Newt, The Republican Party just don't get it. I'm just a guy down here in Alabama that gets so angry when I hear the Republicans trying to find itself. When you came to power with the Contract with America people were so excited. Finally, we thought, we were gonna get a Government that was responsible with our money and leave us alone so we could live our lives. But the Republican Party became drunk with power!!! The RNC changed, not us.

[mytriplive]

Very important my 2nd next to National security

[SparklestheClown]

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink! So does that mean we have to provide more public and private opportunities? Do we keep and increase vouchers among other means? This is no small matter! We certainly could provide more opportunities with the money we have in the country, but where is it being allocated. The Stimulus Package is so full of CRONYISM and pork and corruption, it is not going to give people what they think they are getting!

[aerohog]

I didn't know public education was a "right". I thought it was a privilege. I have seen "public" housing........ "public" education is NOT the answer.

[jeffgatesnc]

Newt for President

if He became our President, instead of Bill Clinton...NAFTA would have never become a reality....

[pepeledog]

I smell another scam starting here. How much are We, the People, going to be raped for this scam?

[Gundamjock193]

God knows if these guys are sincere in Education reform do a follow up rally.

[conservatarian57]

school rather than being forced into a sub-par school system because of the mere disadvantage of location. this would also assure that students have more incentive to learn because it brings voluntary exchange into the mix. when someone is pursuing their own interests willingly rather than by force, its more likely that person will strive for attainment of this pursuit because of the greater promise of self-betterment.

[conservatarian57]

Universal anything is a bad premise. For the US to universalize education and even the fact that schooling has been so controlled by the gov't for so long, means that someone is being given a "right" at the expense of another man. if education were to be privatized, adults and college graduates would have more incentive to teach because there would be more money availiable and thus the quality would increase. I do believe the government should provide money for the students to choose their own

[ErikMartinsen81]

If one person has a "right" to learn, it means he has the "right" to force other people to teach him. There can be no such right. All education should be privatized.