Throughout this prolonged presidential campaign the three main
candidates - Senators John S. McCain III (R-AZ), Barack H. Obama (D-IL),
and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) - have spent most of their time
arguing about the war in Iraq, the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), the housing crisis, the economy and healthcare. Oh yes, and
change of one sort or another, although the specifics of their calls for
change are difficult to discern. Change for its own sake is not
necessarily a positive idea, and once we reach the general election
campaign, McCain and the Democratic nominee will have to provide more
details about what he or she wants to change and why. Of course,
details do not provide good soundbytes for the nightly news, whereas
"change" does, but educated voters will want to know what they should
expect for the next four years.
One of the issues the candidates have not discussed is education. What
is the role of the Federal Government in education and what do they
propose to do about the abysmal public schools in America? These
questions and more for the most part have remained unanswered in their
speeches. A quick perusal of their campaign websites, however, gives
some revealing answers about their positions on education.