THE TIME HAS COME FOR A NEW POLITICAL PARADIGM

Education Policy

(Addressing primary, secondary, trade
and higher education content and assistance, etc.)

Refocus on the objective of education: the Students
- Create a merit-based system with respect to educators
  - Tenure (if granted) should be based upon performance rather than longevity
- Create a curriculum based upon global competitiveness rather than political correctness
  - Include an expanded emphasis on core subjects (reading, writing, math, science, history)
  - Introduce an emphasis on logic, ethics, civics and communication to develop critical thinking and well-reasoned debate
  - Include exposure to life skills in K-12 (i.e., reading labels, balancing checkbooks, understanding loan programs, making better choices with regard to diet, exercise, the environment, etc.)
  - Reintroduce the importance of trade skills, which are a necessary and increasingly more sophisticated element of the workforce
- Provide block grants to States for K-12 programs that objectively identify substandard public schools and a tactical plan to improve them
  - Provide school vouchers in those States that do not objectively identify substandard schools and a tactical plan to improve them
Integrate more individuals with real-world experience into the educational system (all levels)
- Provide “our Posterity”with the benefit of experience in addition to theory
  - Consider requiring a period of real-world experience before allowing individuals to enter the teaching profession
Scholarship Reform: Provide parity for performance
- Create a college scholarship criteria (as is used in other countries) that rewards hard work and individual accomplishment
  - Base scholarships upon performance (i.e., actually reward demonstrated “scholarship” as opposed to qualifying or disqualifying an individual on an unrelated basis)
- Focus scholarships and grants in areas of cooperative research that improve U.S. competitiveness in the global economy (i.e., health care, renewable energy, technology, etc.)
- Create a tiered-level of scholarship that reflects the level of a student’s prior academic performance
  - This would provide every student with the opportunity to exercise a level of self-determination and to learn the connection between effort and reward
Student Loan Reform: Instill a sense of obligation
- Develop a Student Loan program that allows individuals to elect a loan repayment option (or combination) of the following:
  - A traditional loan repayment schedule (1:1 ratio of dollars to debt)
  - A 2:1 ratio for those who work for a qualified charity or in the public sector for one of the three branches of the Federal Government for such time that they serve
  - A 3:1 ratio for those who work in the public sector as teachers or health care providers or who serve the United States military in a non-combat role for such time that they serve
  - A 4:1 ratio for those who work in the public sector as first responders (e.g., police officers, fire fighters, etc.) for such time that they provide such service
  - A 5:1 ratio for those who serve the United States military in an active combat role for such time that they serve
    - Note: all ratios are offered as examples – they would actually be indexed to projected costs
Encourage colleges and trade schools to establish co-op program
- Co-op programs create:
  - A nexus between academia and the private sector
  - An alternative source of student income to defray expenses
  - Real-world experience related to the student’s college major
  - Potential opportunities for full-time employment upon graduation