• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Rick Perry - Does He Really Want To Shut Down The Education Department

Sunstone

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
So far as I understand it, he really does want to shut down the education department.
 
Mathematician

Mathematician

Reason, and reason again
Quaxotic said:
[youtube]zUA2rDVrmNg[/youtube]
Watch Rick Perry's Campaign End Before Your Eyes - YouTube

Perhaps you guys could help me here. Is Rick Perry really saying he'll shut down the education department? Or is this taken out of context?

-Q
Click to expand...

Keep in mind in the US most matters of education are handled by the local districts and states -- for better or worse. Shutting down the Department of Education may seem a little more bizarre to foreigners unaware of how our system works.
 
The Neo Nerd

The Neo Nerd

Well-Known Member
GeneCosta said:
Keep in mind in the US most matters of education are handled by the local districts and states -- for better or worse. Shutting down the Department of Education may seem a little more bizarre to foreigners unaware of how our system works.
Click to expand...

Are these the states that are trying to get creationism and ID taught as science?
 
A

angellous_evangellous

Guest
Yes, he really does.

He doesn't want the federal government involved in anything that the states can do. So he can force teachers in Texas to teach whatever his minions want them to learn.
 
Valjean

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Republicans are organized. They have official agendas and work off regularly issued talking points. Perry just forgot his script.

I think he's handling his gaffe well, though. He's acknowledging it, joking about it and generally being self-deprecating. I wouldn't write him off yet.

One of the cornerstones of the Republican agenda is the privatization or elimination of social and public services. They do want to eliminate the Dept. of Education -- as well as public schools.
They also want to eliminate the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Forest Service, Medicare/Medicaid, &al. They want to repeal bills like the Clean Air Act, withdraw from the UN, and a host of other regressive goals.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Revoltingest

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Seyorni said:
Republicans are organized. They have official agendas and work off regularly issued talking points. Perry just forgot his script.
I think he's handling his gaffe well, though. He's acknowledging it, joking about it and generally being self-deprecating. I wouldn't write him off yet.
One of the cornerstones of the Republican agenda is the privatization or elimination of social and public services. They do want to eliminate the Dept. of Education -- as well as public schools.
They also want to eliminate the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Forest Service, Medicare/Medicaid, &al. They want to repeal bills like the Clean Air Act, withdraw from the UN, and a host of other regressive goals.
Click to expand...
You sure have an expansive idea of what all Republicans want.
Why is it then, that when in power they don't actually accomplish these things?
 
Terrywoodenpic

Terrywoodenpic

Oldest Heretic
Revoltingest said:
You sure have an expansive idea of what all Republicans want.
Why is it then, that when in power they don't actually accomplish these things?
Click to expand...

Because the government in power is hamstrung by the system itself.
It is very difficult to get anything controversial through.
 
A

angellous_evangellous

Guest
Revoltingest said:
You sure have an expansive idea of what all Republicans want.
Why is it then, that when in power they don't actually accomplish these things?
Click to expand...

I believe that platform came about after Obama came into power.

The fringe became a bit more mainstream.
 
Revoltingest

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Terrywoodenpic said:
Because the government in power is hamstrung by the system itself.
It is very difficult to get anything controversial through.
Click to expand...
Yet in spite of this, Republicans have managed to create new departments, start wars, raise taxes & increase federal
regulations (every year one is prez for this last item). This shows that they can wield great power at times.
 
Valjean

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Revoltingest said:
You sure have an expansive idea of what all Republicans want.
Why is it then, that when in power they don't actually accomplish these things?
Click to expand...
Ah, but they do, but they're stealthy about it. They defund agencies &/or staff them with cronies or incompetents. Eg: FEMA used to be competent, for example. There used to be history and civics classes in schools. OSHA used to have actual inspectors -- with teeth.
Once they've screwed up an agency they then point to its failures and incompetence as evidence of the uselessness of government, and garner yet more support for its atavistic agenda.

It's a vicious, insidious circle, I tell you!:thud:
 
Revoltingest

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Seyorni said:
Ah, but they do, but they're stealthy about it. They defund agencies &/or staff them with cronies or incompetents. Eg: FEMA used to be competent, for example. There used to be history and civics classes in schools. OSHA used to have actual inspectors -- with teeth.
Once they've screwed up an agency they then point to its failures and incompetence as evidence of the uselessness of government, and garner yet more support for its atavistic agenda.
It's a vicious, insidious circle, I tell you!:thud:
Click to expand...
I don't see what you see.
Were Repubs as you say, I might be tempted to vote for some.
 
gnomon

gnomon

Well-Known Member
Clarifications on the Department of Education.

1) It doesn't determine any educational standards.
2) It doesn't determine curricula.
3) It doesn't build schools.
4) It doesn't set any requirements for graduation or enrollment.

What it does do, apparently, is enforce civil rights discrimination laws, help in financial aid distribution and gathers research data on education to report to a Congress that doesn't even care.

Barely over 30 decades ago we did not have a Department of Education. It was simply part of another department. I would also add that the most notable thing the Department has done in its short history is basically do something it never did before, get highly involved in State educational standards, and the result wasn't much to anybody's liking. It's called No Child Left Behind.

I don't buy the arguments against DE based on grounds of constitutionality or State's rights but I do find the arguments of the Department being too big (funding) for it's stated purpose and that it is perhaps redundant as a cabinet level Department.

edit: More importantly, however, is whether or not this debate is the most pressing issue in national politics. Beyond scrapping No Child Left Behind I don't think it is. They can have this debate after they relegislate proper finance regulations.
 
Crystallas

Crystallas

Active Member
I'm not a fan of Rick Perry, but I am against having a Federal Department of Education. At the Federal level, it's aids in more corruption and abuse of power, than it ever did to help. It costs the taxpayers a lot of money(anytime a failed department costs money, its a lot of money IMO), and while it ideally is supposed to help with problems in education, it never has. This is a failed department, and the somewhat successful functions could be retained and moved to another department.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top