Presidential Campaign Term Paper

Presidential Candidates on Education

Education is the backbone of human growth in all fields of lives, by that economy, society, morality or personal development. It is the answer or solution to all the problems encountered by an individual, society or a nation. Through the direct use of knowledge, an educated person can help himself and others around him to overcome obstacles, develop himself and reach his highest potential. Therefore, education has been among the highest priorities of nations all over the world. Education has been among primary goals of all governments that ever ruled America and it is reason of American's success and hegemony in the world.

Thus, the candidates of American Presidential elections have come up with scrupulously detailed plans on improving the quality of education for people of America.

John Kerry is the candidate of the Democratic Party. He plans to increase job opportunities, increase the access and improve the quality of health care facilities and education, strengthening economy, military and relationships with other nations. He has proven himself as of possessing leadership qualities and humanitarian feelings during and after Vietnam War and years as member of Senate.

Kerry believes that every school should aim for and have resources to reach high standards of education. He plans to establish a National Education Trust Fund to ensure that schools always have the resources to provide quality education. Rewards would be granted to schools that reach the expectations. (Kerry website)

As teachers are the factor that determine the quality of education that each child receives, a plan to ensure that only competent persons teach and rewarded, while the rest are fired.

This program would be called "New Bargain for America's Children and Teachers" under which 500,00 capable teachers will be hired. Teachers will be rewarded with high pays while at same time will be demanded to carry out rigorous testing that train and develop students for future careers.Majority of parents work in America till late in the evening and cannot fully attend to child needs resulting in children landing up in all sorts of problems. Therefore, John Kerry will open schools that operate till 6 in the evening.

He will also support the No Child left Behind plan introduced by the present government but which has fallen $27 billion short of its promised levels. John promises to add $10 billion every year to this plan so more quality teachers could be hired, more text books could be bought, class sizes should be reduced etc.

About a million Americans will drop out from high school in next five years. This candidate promises to raise the number of graduates from high school, improving the quality of schools through methods mentioned above and through holding schools responsible for students' success.

About $24.8 billion will be spend in the renovation, reconstruction and modernization of school building. This would include, besides improving basic school facilities such as clean drinking water and proper ventilation, breaking down of massive and un-manageable buildings into smaller and controllable units.

On one hand, the demand for highly -qualified and skills individuals is increasing as the American economy has been in the tertiary stage for a long time, on the other, the number of college graduates has been dropping drastically in past years. Among several reasons for this decline, a major one has been the sharp increase of 35% in tuitions fees in last three years. Kerry promises to fund college so that they charge less on students, simplify the student loan application process, provide extra tutoring and training for college demands and encourage more students….....