Romney's education promise.

Today Mitt Romney spoke to a group of Latino small business owners. Among the topics he discussed with them was education. Romney said that some U.S. students receive a third world education, and that minority students were the most likely to be under educated.
I have to give the Romney camp credit for stating an actual point of fact. Fact are hard for this candidate to grasp so, good job.
Romney said that the solution to this problem was to allow federal dollars to follow each student rather than be given to states to allocate. The logistics of this plan are a nightmare, but that is not why I am writing about this. A few months ago Romney was overheard at a campaign event telling rich donors that if elected to office he would eliminate the department of education. He said that each state should handle its own education needs, and that the federal government had no place in education. Yet today he told prospective supporters that poor, and disabled children should be given a chance to go to any school they want, funded by the department of education.
It is easy for Romney to talk up the uses of education spending to people who use the public school system, and then tell rich donors that he will get rid of such spending, because he is a wind sock candidate. Romney will  pander to each audience and will in the end lean to the side with the most money.
Please vote wisely.

Higher education

Recently Howard Stephenson R-Draper, said that degrees in psychology, Sociology history and philosophy were useless. He called them degrees to nowhere. He went on to say that applied technology schools were better for students and that graduates were more prepared for employment. (Utah Statesman, March, 14, 2011)
Though I feel that applied technology schools are great for some students, they are certainly not the only good educational option. One of the biggest problems with AP schools is that they flood the market with graduates who have a small set of very specific skills. A graduate from Stephan's Hennager's oral hygienist program is going to end up competing for jobs with all of her graduating class. That degree, though useful, is non transferable.
Someone who graduates with a degree in History or Philosophy can go into several different fields.
The most important thing to remember is that we are all unique and we all have something to contribute to society. The educational opportunities in any state should reflect the diverse nature of humankind.
For those who want the facts, here are some statistics.
according to the 2010 Bureau of Labor the unemployment rate for persons holding a bathelors degree was 4.8% Those who had an associates degree, the category that covers applied technology degrees had an unemployment rate of 8.1%.(Statesman,pg 1)
Today the one quality that employers say is lacking in students is the ability to communicate well. That includes e mail memo's and face to face interactions.
So don't make the mistake of thinking that there is only one reason to go to school. Education is far more than quick and dirty money. It is becoming a better citizen and a better communicator.

Closing USDB schools

Well, the Utah legislature wants to close down the schools for the deaf and blind. The reason, they say, is that most students would do fine if left to their own school districts. This is not only a false statement it is a dangerous one. Most USDB students do go to school within their respective districts, but they are not well served by them. These students receive equipment and training from the USDB schools. They have special teachers that help them with work and these teachers help the school to be more accommodating to the student's special needs. For children with multiple disabilities mainstreaming is not possible or would be far to difficult for either the child the district or both, for these children the school for the deaf and blind is essential. Closing these schools would place an undue burden on cash strapped districts, it also could lead to students being denied their legal right to a quality education. I for example would have had a much harder time in school without my resource teacher, during eighth and ninth grade when I didn't have her the school forced me into resource and remedial classes with the profoundly disabled rather than give me printed material that I could read. The truth is, we live in a state that undervalues it's disabled community and this is a tactic to take education away from students who deserve it. In 1973 it was determined that all children deserved an education, this is Utah's way of superseding federal law.
Without doing any research to find out what it would cost for individual districts to provide for these new students they assume this measure will save them $19 million. With some common sense they would realize that either individual districts would end up expending this same amount of money to educated these children, or these children would get an inferior education.
Undoubtedly some of you are thinking, "Aaron, this is just a proposal." My answer to that is look back to two weeks ago when the legislative budget committee said that Utah was doing great but might need to cut 7% from every department. The Utah Statesman reported what that could mean to USU, and Gov. Herbert told us not to worry it probably wouldn't happen. Well now that the session has begun everyone is talking like that cut is a forgone conclusion. In Utah every time the legislature mentions a cut it almost always happens. The chance that this state could lose it's schools for the deaf and blind is real. I did not go to the school, but I did benefit from it, this isn't some unimportant program, this isn't frivolous wasteful spending. This is about educating peoples children.