EDUCATION

NELSON MANDELA ONCE SAID, “EDUCATION IS THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON WHICH YOU CAN USE TO CHANGE THE WORLD.” Unfortunately, for many people, our current education system has become a dull and ineffective weapon of change. That is why I need your help and your support to revitalize American education.

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SCHOOL CHOICE

Parents, not the bureaucracy in Washington, should direct the education of their children. Empowering parents and students to have choices, instead of forcing them into a one-size-fits-all system, is the only way to truly prepare our students for work in the 21st century.

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Thus, instead of protecting an antiquated and inefficient system, I will fight to provide high quality options for every student, whether private schools, technical schools, or homeschooling. This is particularly important for low-income students, who often have no way to escape from substandard or inadequate public school systems.

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The benefits of school choice have been seen around the nation. In our nation’s capital, students who randomly received voucher scholarships to private schools were 21% more likely to graduate, according to the Urban Institute.

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COMMON CORE

The harm that the Common Core education standards does to our nation’s education system cannot be understated. The standards enforce an education focused on testing instead of true learning. Across the nation, millions of students are suffering from a system that has no care for them except to examine the marks that they make on their tests. As a result, the true critical thinking skills that state and local governments hope to—and have the right to—emphasize are being lost in the shuffle. In the spirit of education reformer John Dewey, I advocate for rejecting teaching to the test, bringing creative thinking back to classrooms, and returning the power to parents and teachers. 

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COLLEGE COSTS

The cost of college has spiraled out of control over the past decades. Delinquency rates on student loans are now as high as they were on subprime mortgages during the housing crisis. Clearly, the devastating burden of these loans must serve as a wake-up call: it is time to reinvigorate our higher education system with schools of learning that can ensure success for everyone, not just the wealthy who can afford to attend university. Technical institutions, online universities and work-based learning in the private sector must be brought forth as a path to a prosperous and successful career.