The History of Education in America

The History of Education in America is lengthy and diverse. For the most part, education in the colonial days was primarily done at the home. Parents were the primary educators during the early years of the United States. Learning about agriculture and farming was the mainstay for survival, although some parents were able to teach their children to read and write and perform basic calculations. Thought boys were taught to work the land, they were also traditionally taught more academic subjects, while a woman’s education, beyond basic reading, writing, and math, was limited to learning how to run a household.

As the country became more heavily populated, schools became more common, but the level of education remained the same and actual schools were all private catering mostly to the wealthy. By the mid-1800’s reformers from Massachusetts and Connecticut pushed for mandatory state-funded schooling. Massachusetts passed the first bill requiring all children to attend elementary school in 1852. By 1918 every state in the Union had a law requiring that all children be required to attend school.

Today, we live in such a contentious society; public schools are often at the center of intense debates over spending, culture, economics, and religion as well as the future and direction of our country. Standardized tests, bilingual schools, school choice, vouchers, all these debates have been hashed and re-hashed. We have been debating these issues since the institution of mandatory publicly funded education. For a country as big and as diverse as the united States a cookie-cutter style education has created many problems.

Under President Bush, the government attempted to reform education in America with the NCLB
“No Child Left Behind” policy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act
There were as many Criticisms of the Act as there were Claims made in favor of the Act.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act#Criticisms_of_the_Act

Stay tuned to www.the-poitical-post.com for more in a series of
Education: The most important domestic issue of our time
We will also discuss President Obama’s plan for educational reform.

For more information on the history of education in America, please see
PBS' History of Public Schools and History of Public Education

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Breaking Down Tax Relief

President Obama’s address on Tax relief given April 1, 2009.

o Tax relief to those American’s who need it and the workers who have earned it.

o Reduce taxes on working people – the middle class, while jump starting growth and job creation.

o It is false hope that wealth automatically trickles down.

o Help Americans go to college, own a home, raise a family, start a business, and save for retirement. These goals are the foundation of the American dream.

Speaking points from President Obama’s speech given “Tax Day”, April 15, 2009, defining how Americans will be effected by New Tax Relief policies.

Six (6) Points of the Tax Relief Plan:

1) Tax cut for 95% of American workers (those making less then $250K/yr) – most progressive tax cut in American history. Starting April 1, 2009, people saw extra money in their pay checks. This tax cut will reach 120 million families and result in 120 billion dollars back in America pockets. This will boost demand, and save or create, over ½ million jobs. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has found that tax cuts like these for American workers are more than three times more effective in stimulating/recovery than tax breaks for the very wealthiest Americans.

2) Small businesses are allowed to off-set their losses against the income they’ve earned over the last five years. Where previously it was only over two years. Providing a record number of refunds for small businesses, to help maintain inventory and pay their workers.

3) $2,500 tax credit for all four years of college. By 2020, Americans will have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

4) Tax credits of up to $8,00 for first time home buyers

5) 2 trillion dollars in deficit reduction identified over the next decade by cutting programs that don’t work, contracts that aren’t fair, and spending that we don’t need. Also, doing away with “giveaways”.

6) Simplify the Tax Code to undo “carve outs” and “loop holes”.

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