Texas and local politician presentation and discussion Ted Cruz was born on Dec 22, 1970 in Calgary, Alberta to Eleanor Elizabeth Wilson Darragh and Rafael Bienvenido Cruz. Shortly after Ted Cruz’s birth the oil industry slumped in Canada causing his parents to have to sell their seismic-data processing company. At the age of three Ted Cruz’s father would divorce his mother and move to Houston. It was not until, six months later that Eleanor moved to Houston with Ted, and remarried Rafael. Despite the marital issues with his parents he still retained a close relationship with both of them. Cruz considers his mother “a best friend” and an “unbelievably caring and loving person” (Bureau). At a young age Ted Cruz was invested heavily in religion and education. His father would read him the bible every day and make declarations of the word of God. While his mother would be heavily dedicated in put him in more than one private school these included the world renowned Awty International School, Faith West Academy and The Second Baptist High school where Cruz later graduated from as Valedictorian. Because Cruz talked about God with his father everyday this helped craft his views on religion that would later influence his career as a politician. As Cruz grew up he became more involved with conservative politics. In high school Cruz was part of the Free Market Education Foundation, as a part of the foundation he learned about “Milton Friedman and other free-market economic philosophers” (Mackey), and also the Ten Pillars of Economic Wisdom. While Cruz was at The Free Market Education Foundation, the school organized the Constitutional Corroborators. Cruz and a group of five other boys toured Texas speaking at Rotary Club and other civic gr... ... middle of paper ... ...ation has been pivotal to his success as a politician and lawyer. Because of this fact, Ted Cruz is a deep believer of school choice. In January of this year, at a National School Choice Week rally, Ted Cruz announced that "School choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century.”(Hassan). Cruz and other democratic lawmakers such a U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, are both pushing for reforms that give all classes of people access to be able to attend more charter schools, private schools and public schools. Before election to the United States Senate, Cruz was not particularly active in education policies such as No Child Left Behind; he did however say in 2012 at Tea Party Express Rally expressed the need to eliminate the Department of Education. Cruz said that “Education is too important for it to be controlled by a bunch of unelected bureaucrats in Washington.
The people of Texas are diverse and carry their “big can-do attitudes and accents” (Pearson); making Texas a bigger than life state. The political culture of Texas is impacted by two different subgroups of individualistic and traditionalistic characteristics. The combination of traditionalism and individualism has had a huge impact on the state and Texas’ seven different constitutions. The shift in power between 1827 and 1876 has impacted the political diversity Texas has today. Looking at the specifics of these subcultures, the traditionalists believe government should benefit the wealthy and powerful, and that government services must be limited.
...neth M. Goldstein, and William G. Howell. "Chapter 20 The Social and Economic Milieu of Texas Poltics." Understanding American Politics and Government. Texas ed. New York: Longman, 2010. 690-93. Print.
University of Texas at Austin. Texas Politics, The legislative Branch. Austin, 2nd Edition-Revision 94 2009, Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services.
The political future of Texas has been widely debated since the 2012 election of Pres. Barack Obama, since the state has always played a significant role in impacting national elections. Nationally, there was uneven support among minority voters in favor of the president and Democrats, and as a result there has been an increasing interest in the Hispanic population growth in Texas (Lawrence.) The speculation regards how the changing complexion of Texas voters will influence the political process, with political pundits broadly predicting that since the Latino population typically votes for Democr...
She realized that choice and accountability were not the answer, but that curriculum and instruction were more viable solutions to America’s educational dilemma. Ravitch suggests that to abandon public schools is to abandon the institution that supports our concepts of democracy and citizenship and to the promise of American life (Ravitch, 2011, p. 12-14). The idea of school choice is rooted in Milton Friedman’s essay concerning the government’s role in education. Friedman asserted that society should support and contribute to the maximum freedom of the individual or the family. He maintained that the government should provide vouchers to help support parents financially on their children’s education, which parents could use at the school of their choosing; so long as the school met set standards. Therefore, this creation of choice would stimulate competition, which Friedman believed would increase the development and improvement of nonpublic schools, as well as, create a variety of school options (Ravitch, 2011, p. 115). As a result of the choice movement, the public received three versions of school choice: voucher schools, private schools, and charter schools. Each of these schools receives public funding, but do not operate as traditional public schools, and are not managed by a government agency (Ravitch, 2011, p. 121). Charter schools became the most popular choice of this new
I can support his idea that kindergarten through eight should learn the core knowledge, and high school should be left with most humanities and social science courses. It would lessen how long people need to attend college for their career. What I do not support is his idea of the lower percentile, there could be many intelligent people in that category that could change the world, but they did not show how much they could be valuable in their high school days. Some people could be genius in high school, but not so much in college, or vice versa. What would happen if the person that has what it takes to cure cancer, but no one listens to him because he was not “intelligent” enough to go to college?
...the real world, we need to adopt a modern approach that is proven to work and built to last.” He says that parents, not politicians or bureaucrats, should be in charge of the education dollars spent on their children and that teachers need to be liberated from the politicized, bureaucratic status quo and rewarded for the educational value they create. Robert Sarvis plans on maximizing school choice through public-school matching programs, ending education fads, deregulating private schools and public-school reform, and fostering every aspect of education policy.
Education is the foundation of American society. It empowers the youth of America to become the successful leaders this country needs for the future. Education has been one of America’s top priorities since 1965, when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed. Now, education is controlled by the No Child Left Behind Act, which was launched in January 8, 2002. This act was passed with intentions from the government to provide Americans with a more superior education system. However, The No Child Left Behind Act carried many flaws which were left unseen to a vast majority of the public. This act limited American students by not allowing them to demonstrate their full academic potentials while proceeding in school. While the act was still fairly fresh, there was already evidence to prove that it had already gotten off to a bad beginning. For the crucial math and science courses, statistics showed minimal improvements which had begun around the time period in which the No Child Left Behind Act was passed. The act was also supported by a number of educators who voiced themselves by testifying against having the right to teach at their own free will. Teachers across America claimed that because of this new act, they felt a constant heaviness upon their shoulders from the state government to “Teach the test.”
The funding of public education has long been an issue for the state government of Texas. Starting before Texas was even a state, public education funding was at the forefront of politicians’ minds. In 1836, one of the reasons Anglo-Texans wanted to become independent from Mexico was Mexico’s lack of a public school system (An Overview of the History of Public Education in Texas, 2016). This drove the desire of President Mirabeau B. Lamar of the Republic of Texas to create legislation that would grant public schools land (A Brief History of Public Education, n.d.). This act set aside four leagues of land per county for the use of free education centers and thus began the funding of public education by the state government (An Overview of the History of Public Education in Texas, 2016). In the last 177 years, the Texas Legislature and the Texas Education Agency have created numerous acts and laws regarding the funding of education, but it has been in the last 50 years that this topic has become highly contested, resulting in several lawsuits and endless efforts (by the school districts) to equalize the distribution of funds to Texas school districts (Texas School Finance History, n.d.). In sum, the complex issues and policies that surround the funding of public education are derived from a combination of the legislature, bureaucratic agencies, and local governments in the form of school districts.
We all start someplace and for Robert Edward Turner III it started in Cincinnati, Ohio at the McCallie School. He was a National Forensics League member. (NFL) It was at this school he won the Tennessee debate championship. Robert Edward Turner was also call and what he is known as today as Ted Turner. His dad, Robert Turner II also known as Ed Turner, bought a billboard company he changed the name to Turner Advertising. Ted learned every aspect of the outdoor advertising business at his father’s insistence. He learned from maintenance to finance, but not all he did was work sailed his dinghy that his father gave him. “At age nine, he began sailing and soon developed a passion for sailboat racing. By age 11, he was competing in the junior regatta of the Savannah Yacht Club.” (Achievement). Ted’s father wanted him to attend Harvard, but his grades weren’t high enough for him to get in so Ted attended Brown University. After school, he returned home to his father’s business where his father gave him the assistant manager of Turner Advertising’s Atlanta branch position. Ted inherited the business at 24 when his father took his own life after the business took a turn for the worse and went into debt. By the end of the decade Ted had turned the business around into the largest billboard company in the southeast. (Achievement).
Mr. Obama and No Child Left Behind (2010, March 17). Nytimes.com Retrieved July 5, 2011,
...spects that put too much of a burden upon the teachers. All children deserve an excellent education, but it takes more than the teachers and the school system to ensure the success of a child. The child must have the drive and parents as well must be involved. Although the plan has many great ideas, the school system should not be punished if a small group fails what about the large amount that is doing wonderfully? This law was an outstanding start. Now that lawmakers are aware of the problems, they need to act. The worst that could happen is that No Child Left Behind is unchanged, leaving behind yet another child. (Symonds) ?Reform is no longer about access or money. It is no longer about compliance or excuses. It is about improving student achievement by improving the quality of the education we offer American students.? Secretary of Education Rod Paige.
Obama's one mistake during his early political career (he later called it "an ill-considered race" in which he got "spanked" by the voters. Barack directed the Illinois Project Vote, which was a voter registration drive aimed at increasing black turnout in the 1992 election. Directing this project, Obama accepted positions such as attorney with the civil rights law firm of Miner, Barnhill and Galland and a lecturer at the University Of Chicago Law School. The Illinois Project Vote helped Carol Moseley Braun become the first black woman ever elected to the Senate. He gain up a staff of from 10 to 700 volunteers that reached their goal of getting 400,000 registered African Americans in the state. This made Barack into the Crain's Chicago Business list "40 under Forty" powers to be. Although, Barack didn’t need to fundraise for the position he was offered, he started an ongoing campaign to raise money for the project. Sandy Newman, who work side by side with Barack Obama for the Project Vote, said Obama "raised more money than any of our state directors had ever done. He did a great job of enlisting a broad spectrum of organizations and people, including many who did not get along well with one another. “During the times of 1992–1996 Obama was teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for about 12 years, as a Lecturer for four years (1992–1996), and as a Senior Lecturer for eight years (1996–2004). While teaching those 12 years he taught courses about the process and equal protection, voting rights, and racism and law. He published no legal scholarship, and turned down tenured positions, but served eight years in the Illinois Senate during his twelve years at the university. Being that he was te...
Ask any number of people, what the value of an education is and they all will agree that a good education is exceedingly important. However, ask any number of people, how the country should improve it, and that is fiercely contested. Every couple of years a new hopeful idea is put into the system to help in some way whether it be enforcing standards, opening schools like charter schools, giving out checks to private education, or having a teacher’s pay be based on their performance. The most recent ideas have been two federal programs that have both sought to remake the educational system. The first one is the “No Child Left Behind Act” that was put into place in 2001. This act is to r...