Daily Caller High: Vol. XVII

A Few Education Ideas

by Lyda Loudon

Do you recognize the name Arne Duncan? You should. He is President Obama’s Education Secretary. How would you like to do school, everyday, the entire day, through the entire year? I know I wouldn’t. I love summer! Well, Mr. Arne said, “In all seriousness, I think schools should be open 12, 13, 14 hours a day, seven days a week, 11-12 months of the year.” Yes, you read that right. That means no weekends and probably no summer. Who in their right mind would want that?

Now, does the idea of eliminating weekends and summer sound pretty crazy? Yes, it does. But here’s the argument: America’s academic achievement ranks significantly low in comparison to that of other countries. Our public school system could undoubtedly use some fixing. I don’t think I’m alone when I say–there must be another solution. Weekends are the break that keeps me alive during the school year.

Maybe we should give students a greater incentive for learning, like making the curriculum relevant and delivered by a teacher who knows the material. How about giving teachers a greater incentive for teaching well, like merit pay? How about making schools compete by establishing a school choice system. Here’s an idea: make a curriculum a little more challenging and up the standards for the average student. Just please, let us keep our summer.

Fake Tea Party on Michigan Ballots

By Jackie Seal

Next week Michigan voters will head to the polls in hopes of electing new officials who can fix the state’s current mess.  But, now a controversy is brewing that will cause Michigan voters to be a bit cautious when voting on Tuesday.  A story broke claiming that a “fake” tea party has gathered signatures so that they can have candidates on the ballot listed as the Tea Party.  The problem is, there are no such candidates.  It appears to be a ploy by the Democrats to pull votes away from the Republicans.  Talk about feeling the heat.

So, what can be taken away from this trick?  Simple, Michigan democrats know they are in trouble.  Five years ago when Jennifer Granholm gave her State of the State address she stated, “In five years you’re going to be blown away.”  Just how blown away are Michiganders?  Check out this ad by the Michigan Republican Party.  In just five years Granholm has managed to blow away jobs and families leaving Michigan with the second highest unemployment rate in the country.  It’s no wonder Democrats feel the need to resort to tricky games in order to try and pull votes away from Republicans on Tuesday.

It’s a good thing this trick is only happening in the primaries but still dirty nonetheless.  News has been circulating very quickly around the state in order to warn voters to be cautious about the “tea party” candidates they will see listed on the ballots.  Michigan voters are feeling very confident about their chances of getting their government back in the hands of the people and out of the hands of the unions and the liberal agenda.  Michigan just wants to go back to work and go back to the thriving state it used to be.

Brandon Kiser is a Kentucky student and political commentator. He is chief editor of The Right Sphere can be found on Twitter @BrandonKiser. Jackie Seal is a high school senior who blogs at Red, White and Conservative and can be found on Twitter at @JackieSeal.