Up First, Joe Biden

Although it is early in the primary campaign, I think it is important to go ahead and start looking at candidates positions on education to spotlight them and track progress in the development of their policies. I intend to work down the lists alphabetically, alternating political affiliations, visiting one candidate’s website each day and reporting back. Once I’ve worked through them all, I will compare and contrast them and move forward from there.

First up is Joe Biden, the 64 year old Democratic Senator from Deleware. On his campaign website, ten issues are currently put forward on his agenda. They are (in the order presented on the website):

• Iraq, Afghanistan and Darfur, Energy, Jobs, Health Care, Access to Higher Education, Preparing for College, Homeland Security, Crime, Climate Change

All of the issues are presented on the same page with paragraph blurbs. Two issues (Iraq and Homeland Security) allow you to read further by following a link to their own pages. Two of the ten issues deal with education, namely, Access to Higher Education and Preparing for College coming in at #5 and #6 on the list. The issues receive 159 and 110 words respectively for a total of 269 words dedicated to issues in education. Before presenting further analysis, lets look at the treatment of the first issue:

Access to Higher Education
Joe Biden believes that every American should have access to higher education. In order to compete in a global economy the American workforce has to protect its edge in education. A college degree is more valuable than ever - and more expensive.
As a parent, Joe Biden knows how tuition costs drain family savings. He would expand help for families by increasing the tax deduction for tuition payments. He would expand Pell grants to cover the average tuition at public colleges for low income families.
Joe Biden believes that high school students should be engaged in planning and saving for college earlier in their careers so that students in their senior year are not overwhelmed by the process of applying to college and figuring out how to pay for it. He would expand national service programs to high school students so that they can earn money for college by participating in public service while they are in high school.

Point by Point Commentary:

• Every American should have access to higher education – great starting point.
• Education is necessary for American to remain globally competitive – agree.
• A college degree is more valuable then ever – not sure on that one, the market is flooded with degrees and it definitely depends where you got your degree, what kind of degree it is in and really, how much you learned from it. In today’s internet age, some of are most influential, wealthiest and famous Americans are without diplomas (think Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Tiger Woods, etc). But yes, for most of us … it is probably a good idea.
• College is expensive, more aid to low income students. – Ok, but overused.
• Create a national service program that pays students for public service in high school into college savings accounts – interesting idea, kind of like advance work study. But considering students number one job should be being good students, would this work mostly take place in the summers? What type of work would the be doing – hopefully not cleaning up streets, but I kind of like the idea of having them tutoring younger students or working in libraries. But overall, a couple hours here and there isn’t going to save you up enough to pay for a Harvard education and a public university education is already pretty affordable (well except for the social aspects of it).
• Overall … really only one off the beaten path idea. I don’t like that every paragraph contains “Joe Biden believes” or “Joe Biden knows” – as it just makes you feel like you are reading filler, which in the most case you are – everyone wants more student loans at lower rates so that more students can go to college, but stepping back for a moment – is it the cost of college that is really keeping the students that don’t go out or is it a lack of preparedness? As an innercity teacher who works in a district where 50% of high school freshman won’t graduate I tend to think the latter, but we will see if he touches on any of these issues in his second education issue…

Preparing for College
Over the past two decades we have made incredible strides in updating our education system. Fifteen years ago it would have been hard to imagine students linked through a high-tech video and high-speed internet network to other students and teachers across the country or teachers interacting with parents via email. New technology holds promise for our education system that we're only beginning to discover. But nothing is more essential than quality educators and engaged parents. Joe Biden believes that to fulfill the promise to leave no child behind we have to direct adequate resources to update schools, reduce class size and school size, reward quality educators, and improve teacher pay.

Point by point commentary

• We’ve updated our education system with technology – ok, but do we have the results to show for it?
• We can teleconference now, just imagine what is next. – This has nothing to do with you running for President and almost suggests that we should sit back and wait for technology to solve all of our problems. Kids dependent on calculators that can’t multiply two one digits numbers isn’t necessarily a great thing.
• But in the end, its good teachers and parents. – On this one, he is probably right … but what is a good teacher, how do we get more of them and what can the government do about getting parents engaged? Just saying we need all of this is great, but we need specific ideas here how to make it happen because just saying we need these things isn’t a new idea.
• Fulfill NCLB by spending money on schools, resources and teachers. – Resources are great but they have to come from somewhere. Additionally, there is that whole bigger concept that you won’t find the guarantee to a public education in the United States Constitution – but you will have to look to each states constitution instead. So the federal government can only really offer states money for meeting their demands, but each state is doing their own thing. A highly qualified teacher under NCLB, for example, varies from state to state because each state sets their own standards. Rattling off things like smaller class sizes are great, but just saying them is not enough – we have had enough rhetoric and need more action steps on how to get there.
  

Overall: Biden’s positions on education are, for the most part, non-specific with the exception of his public service plan for high school students to earn money for college. I look forward to more development of his ideas on his site as this issue is to important for the generic plans offered. Too much focus on college, not enough focus on our failing K-12 system.

Afterward: Biden being first was somewhat of a guinea pig as I am still figuring out how I want to go through these candidate’s issues, but I assure you I will be as tough on all of them. It is a learning process for me and hopefully others as we spend more time looking at one issue in particular – and don’t worry we will revisit each candidate later. It is my hope that all of this attention will hopefully encourage the campaigns to clarify their position on these very important issues and offer more specific implementation plans.

Comments are always welcome!

Update: After posting a link to this post on the official campaign Biden blog, the Biden campaign responded with:

Thanks, Ed, for your comments.
I hope you had a chance to view the video of Sen. Biden when he addressed the Conference On World Affairs at the University of Colorado at Boulder this past weekend, where he mentioned several items of interest to students and parents: renewed funding for student loans and Pell Grants, programs that would forgive student loans. It was a very wide-ranging and comprehensive speech.
In Reno, Nevada, where the Senator recently participated in AFSCME’s 2008 Democratic Candidate Forum, people in the audience were interviewed as they left the auditorium:
Kerstin Wolle, Gardnerville: “I was very impressed with Senator Biden. He expressed himself well. He was to the point. I liked his emphasis on education.” Cindy Trigg, Lake Tahoe: “I really appreciate Biden’s passion for education.” Darhyl Vann, Las Vegas: “Biden: I consider him a ’solutions’ guy.”
Stay tuned to www.JoeBiden.com for more issues and the latest developments in the Biden campaign!– Erin Medlicott