Newswise — There are many issues at the forefront of voters' minds as the 2008 presidential election grows nearer. Education, however, has not been one of them. But Encarna Rodriguez, Ph.D., assistant professor of education at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, believes it should be because of the impact on the future of our country.
"Naturally, the talk of an economic recession prompted by the subprime mortgage crisis, made housing a very concrete daily concern for many families," she explained. "Then there's the war in Iraq, which has pervaded the political landscape for the last five years. These are the issues that, understandably, are taking precedence."
Also, according to Rodriguez, talk about education in the last few years has been limited to talking about the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
"Because NCLB was a bipartisan law, the conversation in recent years has been about how to amend or change parts of the law, and not about the role and needs of education in our time in history," she said.
Rodriguez argues that NCLB falls short on a number of issues affecting education and our nation's future. "We cannot create citizens who understand complex international realities and who take a leading role in advancing a more just society, both locally and internationally, without rethinking education," she said. "Unfortunately, this conversation is not taking place, and the current debate on education has been narrowed to the necessary, but by no means sufficient goal of students demonstrating achievement on standardized testing."
Rodriguez sees the legacy of NCLB as a challenge for the next President of the United States.
"Whether the next president is a Republican or Democrat, the law will continue moving closer to its unrealistic 2014 goal of making all students proficient in math, reading and science according to standardized tests which will identify more and more schools, particularly those serving poor students, as failing," says Rodriguez. "The next president will have to evaluate its achievements and engage with those who still see the law as an unfulfilled promise."
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