Education Reveals President's Real Vision of Government During State of Union Address

President Barack Obama touched on a variety of issues-- energy, jobs, technology, climate change and the middle class-- in his State of the Union address on Tuesday. Yahoo News asked voters to respond to his speech. Here's one perspective.

COMMENTARY | As a critic of President Obama, I did not expect to be encouraged by the initial State of the Union of his second term, delivered to Congress on Feb. 12. Not only did my expectations prove valid, but the speech again demonstrated the president possesses a fundamentally different vision of government.

Strangely, President Obama opened with the assertion that, "The American people don't expect government to solve every problem."

Though this statement is accurate, he proceeded to document a plan that attempted the fool-hearty task of involving the federal government in nearly every facet of life. Whether the topic was labor, energy, housing, gun control, or more, Obama believes Washington simply knows better.

When education was raised, it particularly resonated since I have three school-age children who would be affected. Without reference to implementing such changes free of additional deficit spending, Obama proposed a broad program of redesigning America's high schools to meet new Washington standards. Naturally, the president pledged to reward such action with more money.

A decade of declining results shows that programs like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top have failed and the federal government's tampering with local education practices and standards has done great harm. Like so many issues, local administrators carry a better understanding of their schools and are certainly more accountable. That Obama wants to usurp greater authority from school districts is discouraging, but consistent with his belief that more government is always the answer.

Jeff Briscoe is an attorney and writer from Port Charlotte, Fla., who is a regular contributor to the Yahoo! Contributor Network.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/education-reveals-presidents-real-vision-government-during-state-070300611.html

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