Thursday, February 21, 2008

McCain: Generally Unconvincing

According to one of his spokespeople, “Senator McCain generally supports No Child Left Behind.” Generally supports?! Okay, whatever. So, McCain supports (generally) No Child Left Behind (NCLB)—but his spokespeople have also been quoted as saying McCain knows we can save public education if we “have the courage to do more than placate the defenders of the status quo.” Other comments from the McCain camp are equally vague—and often contradictory—and lead to my belief that, generally, McCain cares more about losing the support of the Republican base than he does about overhauling the crises that face American schools as a result of NCLB.

Another wavering example: McCain has commented, “We [and I’m assuming that he’s referring to the federal government] must continue to set standards and hold schools accountable for their performance…We should never shrink from the truth or seek to soften accountability where schools are failing in their most basic responsibility…they have failed students, parents and communities.” McCain has also commented, “I do not favor nationally imposed standards or federal funding strings. State and local education agencies should be responsible for developing & enforcing high academic standards. I don’t believe we should penalize students by taking away limited education dollars according to federal dictates.”

So, clearly, McCain has got no clear stance on education—and, honestly, since education is not a key issue for Republican candidates, it seems as though no one really expects him to. In order to placate the small percentage of the voting population which has a strong interest in education and educational reform, he’s got a couple of vague responses that he figures will suit either crowd; these comments abound with loaded words like standards, truth, accountability, failure, and responsibility. McCain hopes/supposes that his audience will be so taken with these words that they will not really take notice to the fact that he never makes a definitive statement.

This language provides an effective smokescreen—deferring listeners away from the hard facts, distracting them with idealistic, dramatic, patriotic language. The words chosen by McCain misdirect the listener, away from the subject at hand—the failures of No Child Left Behind—and refocus on the general notion of accountability; and, while it sounds nice and idealistic, accountability can be translated, in reference to NCLB, to blame-shifting.

For an observant listener to McCain’s comments on education, the reasons for worry are many, and the scariest one may be: Why has McCain busted out the smokescreen? Is he keeping his real agenda hidden until he officially gets the Republican nomination? Because this would be far preferable to the unsettling thoughts that it’s hidden because a) McCain actually thinks that No Child Left Behind is a good start or b) that he has no ideas for, interest in, or plans about improving the educational system. I find McCain’s use of smokescreen unbecoming and, generally, unconvincing.

2 comments:

Hamsterian said...

Good observations.

Mary Beth said...

Unfortunately, politicians tend to be vague no matter what the occasion, probably because they either have no idea what they're talking about or they don't want to upset anybody by taking sides. If only they would start worrying more about solving our country's problems and less about what people think of them. That would be a shock.