Republicans have been tinkering with education for more than a decade

First we had the Edison Schools, the private option. Then the magnet schools, the fundamental schools and the charter schools. GWB gave lip service to education with an unfunded program called "No Child Left Behind."

His brother, Jeb Bush said the educational reforms in Florida were the hallmark of his administration. In Florida we also have the dreaded FCAT that all high school seniors must pass to graduate. Emphasis has been placed on math and English, and socials studies and the arts have been dropped from the high school curriculum. Of course, high school football remained funded.

Nearly 1 in 4 Florida High School students does not graduate. In the last of couple of years Florida schools have been closing and teachers have been laid off.

According to the WSJ, less than one in four high school graduates in 2010 who took the ACT college-entrance exam were found to have the skills necessary for basic entry-level classes. "

President Obama has invested heavily in education and recently announced that he want to push the United States from 12th to first in a ranking of countries with the most adults who hold college degrees.

"High schools are the downfall of American school reform," said Jack Jennings, the president of the Center on Education Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan research organization. "We haven't figured out how to improve them on a broad scope and if our kids aren't dropping out physically, they are dropping out mentally."

The ACT is an achievement test that measures mastery of high-school subjects.  ACT officials have blamed the poor results on a weakened high-school curriculum.

"This is very appalling," said Cynthia Schmeiser, ACT's Education Division president. "It suggests that the core courses [high school students] are taking are not sufficient to prepare them for what they will face in college or the work force."

Read original story in The Wall Street Journal | Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

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