Decision 2012 Parts 1 and 2

I really enjoyed watching both videos. I think both of them made some great points about education. Wouldn't it be nice if we could just find someone who would mix all the great parts together and then maybe we would have what we need. I don't know that any of this will be in an organized manner but here are my thoughts.
I like two comments that President Obama made. The first was about how we should not base teacher pay just on test scores. He mentioned that the standardized tests shrink creativity which is something we've been talking about a lot. It's nice to know he wants good teachers but he knows that merit pay based on test scores is not the best way to judge this. I also like his ending comments about kids-"learn how to learn, learn how to think and be equipped on how to compete and be good citizens." This covers many of my ideas about why I am a teachers. He did also comment that parents have to parent but he did not focus on this as much as Governor Romney. I agree that parents have to parent but for many of our students this will just not happen like we hope it would.
I also liked a few comments that Governor Romney made. I agree with his notion that we should be focused on the best and brightest teachers. I feel like our district does a good job with this but I'm guessing we could do better with higher salaries and other incentives for beginning teachers. I also feel the same about how it doesn't work just to send more money to bad schools/teachers and have them continue to do the exact same thing as they were doing. His view on parents being the number one provider of early education is obviously very strong. He mentioned it more times than I could count. I agree with this and wish this could be the case for all of our families but it is just not. So I feel like there does need to be more options available for 3 year olds to receive an enriched early start so that when they come to kindergarten and first grade they are able to focus on learning, thinking and being good citizens.