Professional Politicians

In response to the blog, “Professional Politicians”, by Chelsea, I, too, think that politicians should be more focused on the work of the position, instead the work of campaigning to get there. The purpose of having politicians is to have skillful people in higher positions of power to make laws and decisions for the good of the people, not to be the biggest campaign moneymaker, or the most known person because it. This is one of the reasons why I do not support the idea of having political parties. To me, political parties may have at first seemed like a good idea because they help group people and politicians into groups based on their main beliefs for government and the nation, but now parties mostly seem to be large groups of people trying to out-spend, out-campaign, and out-maneuver each other so that their political group can be in power for a period of time. Yes, they still have the ideas of their party influencing them, but elections seem based more on the vastness of the campaign than the actual personal beliefs of the person running for a position. People should make decisions about who they elect to offices based on individual beliefs and character, instead of just party affiliation. This system of political parties has led to the topic that Chelsea addresses, which that of politicians being more adept at campaigning than holding a position of power because of the huge expense of running for office. As for me, the word politics comes from poly, meaning many, and tics, meaning blood-sucking creatures. Yes, I know that is not the actual root of the word politics, but I still believe that it accurately represents what it has become.

Race to the Top

The government implemented educational reform program “Race to the Top Fund” has four main points of focus and rewards states for following them. It focuses on “Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy; building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction; recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most; and turning around our lowest-achieving schools.” This is raising the level of standardized testing, getting better instruction and instructors, and helping lower level schools raise their standards. This program is a step towards raising America to the level needed for international competition. While this program has some good aspects, such as the raising of standards in all schools, especially lower-achieving ones, it has the flaw of focusing on standardized testing. When there is a focus on standardized tests, school is taught to the test and based, sometimes entirely, on the passing of the test with as high of scores as possible, so the school and state look better. This sort of education plan does not teach students how to learn, but instead how to take tests and memorize information to recite back. Students must be taught how to learn and understand and think for themselves, especially in our modern society. The real world does not consist of standardized tests, which test the ability of a student to memorize and recite information and to sit through a testing session, but instead is full of the need for critical thinking and reasoning. To create a more learned population of students, there should be a greater focus on understanding and learning, instead of testing, especially since America is trying to race to the top in the world of education.