Democrat candidates emphasize education (DMR)

[Debi]

<snip>

"Our future is absolutely tied to the quality of our educational system,'' said Blouin, the former state economic development director and a former congressman. "If we don't put some substance to this 'best and brightest belief,' it will disappear, and it will take us decades to get it back."

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"We are losing sight of the fact that first and foremost, education needs to be about learning how to be a productive, critical thinking member of a free society,'' Fallon said. "Yeah, you want to take courses that will help you get employment, but if education has just become a job-training program, then we are losing sight of its true function in a democracy."

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(Mohamad) "We need to emphasize the responsibilities of the parent for the kids' education,'' he said. "We need to include the whole community in this. It takes a village to raise a child, that's true, and we are going to do that."

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http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060530/NEWS10/605300368/1011


Culver has proposed creating a scholarship program that would give Iowa students a free freshman year at an Iowa college or university if they meet certain requirements. He also has proposed expanding access to college-level courses for high school seniors statewide so they can complete a year of college before graduation.

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[Iowa Ham]

1. Correction

Don't you mean "Edwards has proposed...Bayh has also proposed..."? :o) In all seriousness I like Culver's proposals on this almost as much as I like Blouin's (freeze tuition) since they both just mean giving more money to colleges. I like Blouin's a little better because it would have less overhead and would be presumably more focused on public universities, although I do think that the "get 'em hooked" aspect of the Edwards/Culver one-year-free plan is intriguing.

[Debi]

2. I didn't write the piece - correct the DMR if you have a beef with their

reporting.

However, I don't care who came up the the plan Culver proposes, it's a good plan and I'm happy to see Culver's willingness to look outside of himself for ideas.

Question - when we 'freeze' tuition how are we going to pay for everything? Cut costs? What would be cut? Cap enrollment? Lay people off? Freeze salaries? Freeze benefits? :shrug:

[Iowa Ham]

3. Question for you

How is Culver going to pay for sending people to college for free? Cut costs? What would be cut? Cap enrollment? Lay people off? Freeze salaries? Freeze benefits?

Blouin and Fallon have both been up front about where their funds are going to come from - I haven't heard Culver say anything other than the cigarette tax.

[Debi]

4. I wonder if Culver will make corporations that took Values Fund money

under false pretenses give the money back?