Why should education be a state controlled issue?

[BmorePat87]

(08-05-2016, 10:22 AM)fredtoast Wrote: I have been surprised about how strong the feelings are in this area.  Personally I see education as the biggest single issue in advancing the standard of living of the middle class in the United States.  Years ago uneducated people could get high paying jobs, but that has all changed.  We are going to have to have better education if we want to maintain a middle class in our country.  So basically education is a major national issue.

We have let the states have a lot of control over education for many years and they have failed.  U.S. businesses need to know exactly what a high school education means when they are looking to hire someone.  They should not have to go look at what state the person came from and find out what areas of knowledge and level of competency is required to get that diploma.  It should be the same in every state.

The only real complaint I have ever seen about the federal government controlling education is the basic "Federal Government BAD.  Sate government GOOD" but I have never seen any real argument to back this up when it come to education.

Are you discussing funding, certification, curriculum, all of the above?

I find your last line to be disingenuous. The biggest argument I have heard is that the education needs vary from state to state. Even within states, they vary from locality to locality. Even within locality, they vary from school to school. Even within schools, they vary from student to student.

The last thing I want is to have to change what I teach every two years when a new party gets into Congress. I'm fortunate. I teach in the 5th richest county which happens to be in the state with the best schools. We value education and we fund it. We also give a lot of control to local school boards that understand the specific needs of each county. At such a lower level, those controlling education tend to have a background in education. 

Our current make up: of the 7 members, 3 are former teachers, one was a professor of education, one a community liaison with the school system, one a pediatrician, and one worked with zoning in the county. 

As much as I'd love to be overpaid by the federal government (holy shit would I make a ton of money if I got paid on their scales), I prefer that what I teach be mostly influenced by 7 board members with a background in education or children. 

Not to mention most of what the federal government has given us has been bipartisan garbage these last 15 years. NCLB and race to the top. Sorry, I need to teach content and skills, not how to pass standardize tests.