Education

Michael Kaplan, a college teacher, has a thoughtful and intriguing explanation of Rick Santorum's views of higher education:

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal is moving ahead with education reform--but it isn't without controversy.

A strongly-worded statement from Education Secretary Arne Duncan last week revealed his distaste for federalism, since it undermines his goal of having all states agree to one set of education standards.

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As they shift focus to education-reform star Florida, GOP presidential candidates would do well to join the host of Americans and legislators marking School Choice Week this week with rallies, speeches, gatherings, and general enthusiasm.

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education issued first-year progress reports for 12 states that received $4 billion in federal funds through an Obama administration pet project, Race to the Top. Not one had followed through on the promises they’d made to secure these grants.

One federal department Rick Perry can remember he wants to eliminate is Education. The presidential candidate has just revealed an overview of his approach to “wasteful, overbearing, and redundant” agencies, going into greater detail yesterday with a new policy document.

President Obama announced today his plans to again unilaterally change federal education policy as part of a new “We can’t wait” campaign, charging Congress with “obstructing” his plans to reshape education and the federal budget.

Via the Twitter feed of Fareed Zakaria, a brief snapshot into the terrifying future of higher education. Currently, more American students are majoring in visual and performing arts than engineering:

Those on the left are wont to complain that government employees are under assualt these days because GOP politicians are going after public sector unions and generous deals they've leveraged through collective bargaining. The standard defense of civil service workers is, yes, they might have good benefits and more job stability but these things are necessary because public sector workers earn significantly less than private sector counterparts.

President Obama announced Wednesday he will issue an executive order for the federal government to reduce student loan payments with measures that almost surely will have taxpayers picking up the tab.

Last week, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate forged an unlikely alliance when they agreed in committee on a rewrite of the federal education authorization law. Both liberal Democrat Tom Harkin and conservative Republican Mike Enzi crafted the bill, which promises to limit the federal mandates put forth originally in No Child Left Behind.

But Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who has been pushing hard for Congress to pass education reauthorization, isn't fully pleased with the result.