Friday, March 29, 2024

AdvertiseDonateSubmit
NewsSportsArtsOpinionThe QuadPhotoVideoIllustrationsCartoonsGraphicsThe StackPRIMEEnterpriseInteractivesPodcastsBruinwalkClassifieds

Inaccurate criticism misses mark of real target

By Daily Bruin Staff

May 6, 1996 9:00 p.m.

Tuesday, May 7, 1996

By Todd Harris

Darrin Hurwitz’s April 22 Viewpoint ("Republican Leader
Misleading") was itself not only misleading but grossly inaccurate.
As a UCLA alum, my advice to Hurwitz is to check the facts before
he begins writing as they have a nasty habit of getting žn the
way of his point.

Let’s start with "misleading." Hurwitz would have you believe
that the biggest problem in schools is a lack of funding. Yet the
United States spends more per pupil on education than almost any
other nation in the world. In fact, per pupil spending has doubled
in the last 25 years.

The Department of Education spends $34 billion annually, and if
you combine the money spent on education at the federal, state and
local level, it totals over $465 billion annually. If money were
the answer, America would have the best-educated students in the
world.

The real problem with America’s schools are teacher unions. One
need only look at the cover headline of the Feb. 26, 1996 U.S. News
and World Report, "How teacher unions are wrecking our schools" to
see where the real problem lies. According to the story, under the
union’s iron grip on American public schools, "good teaching is
often punished, poor teaching rewarded and bureaucracy placed
squarely in the way of common sense." Yet time after time, Bill
Clinton has defended the unions, while vetoing Republican efforts
at education reform.

Now on to the "grossly inaccurate." Hurwitz claims that the GOP
is working to "destroy educational quality and access" in America.
Let’s look at the real record. Under the Republican Balanced Budget
Act, Pell Grants were not only fully-funded, but they were given
the largest single-year increase ever. Hurwitz claims that
Republicans are trying to destroy poor children and early education
through Head Start. The GOP plan was to cut 4 percent from the Head
Start budget, (anyone who has ever dealt with a government
bureaucracy knows that there is plenty of room for a 4 percent cut
in overhead alone) due to the fact that Head Start’s budget has
increased 186 percent over the last six years while Head Start
enrollment has increased only 39percent.

Finally, Hurwitz asserts that Clinton’s Goals 2000 program
offers "world-class education standards." This claim is belied even
by members of his own party. In fact, many Goals 2000 programs were
so unpopular that they were killed žn the Senate by a 99-l
vote. In spite of this, the costs of the program skyrocketed from
$87 million to $372 million in one year.

How can Democrats like Hurwitz defend the status quo in American
education? The fact of the matter is that our children are not
being given the education they need to compete in the global
marketplace. Throwing more money at the problem is not the answer.
What this country needs is real educational reform.

Before his death, Yitzhak Rabin wrote that politicians are
elected by adults to govern for the children. We owe our children
more than schools that don’t teach, budgets that don’t balance, and
politicians who don’t lead. Bill Clinton had his chance to fix
education in America, and he squandered it. Republicans are
offering real leadership in education. We must not let Clinton
stand in the way.

Harris is the press secretary for the California Republican
Party.

Share this story:FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
COMMENTS
Featured Classifieds
More classifieds »
Related Posts