Introduction: The Presidential debates are exercises designed to allow your campaign team the opportunity to strengthen your skills in the areas of leadership, team building, group problem solving, and presentation. The debates give your campaign team the opportunity to present your ideas to your voters and opposition. The debates will consist of the Secretary, President and Vice President. Each member should be well informed and able to answer each of the questions presented.
Guidelines for the Debate
Opening statement from each Secretary of Education
Question posed by Mr. Patten, Ms. Dennis or Mr. Stein
1-2 minute response from each of the Secretaries
Crossfire between the Secretaries
This format will continue until the end of the debate. The Secretary, President and Vice President may take turns answering questions.
Education: Provide detailed explanations for each question. Be prepared to question your opposition and defend your stance. Each group member should help in preparation!
1. What do you believe is the greatest problem in American education today? How does your administration plan to combat this issue? Explain.
Today's educational system in America is riddled with problems. Amongst these many issues, the greatest problem is within the classroom itself. Students in today's schools are not nearly motivated enough. This is mainly due to teachers and educational boards not giving students as much freedom as they would like in terms of what they learn, and how they learn it. Every kid in a classroom does not learn and process information the same way but all students are being forced to do whatever the teacher in the class that they have to take says, for the most part. Most teachers do not and really cannot adapt to every single students learning style and this all leads to kids becoming unmotivated when it comes to doing school work. When people are forced to do something that they don't want to do, the outcome obviously will not be the greatest, and that is what is happening in today's schools. There are many viable solutions to this ongoing issue. If elected, Aidan, Gianni and I will propose a solution to be instilled within the American Educational System that would for example, implement a much more flexible schedule for students to choose, and give kids options to take classes that fit their learning style. We will make sure that there is a class for every type of student in schools to match their learning ability and make learning more desirable for the students in today's classrooms, and more to come.
2. How does your administration plan to increase the nation’s high school completion rate? Explain. - Include programs, support services, etc.
If elected, our administration has many plans to increase the nations high school completion rate. As stated earlier, we promise to institute a system where students have more freedom in choosing their classes and how they want to be taught. This means that if a student prefers to learn in more of a hands-on way, they will have options to take classes with teachers that meet their specific learning styles. With kids taking classes that better suit them, this will give kids a better attitude towards their schoolwork since they have the choices and freedom to choose the classes. This what what our administration plans to do to increase the nations high school completion percentage.
3. What is your stance on standardized testing? Do you believe standardized testing serves a purpose? Explain.
It's no secret standardized testing is pretty much looked down on in today's classrooms, especially by students. Standardized testing is another factor in the major problem that is the American Educational system. Kids are being forced to take tests that can almost define their future and where they will continue their education after high school. Because of this, students are obviously very stressed because of these tests and we need to relieve as much stress from students as we can to start seeing better results. I believe that if the American Educational system today removed standardized testing as such a big role in today's schools, kids in classrooms will start to have more success and possibly be more motivated.
4. What other methods can be used to assess our students and teachers? Provide specific examples to support.
Other methods that could be used to assess our students and teachers would be optional tests to see how students are doing in a certain subject. Countries around the world such as Finland are moving up the global rankings in education. A possible reason for this could be the fact that they do not have standardized testing and only one optional test nationwide. I believe that the united states should follow the footsteps of Finland and establish one test that is optional for students to take that would analyze how they are doing. This test would also assess the teachers because whatever grade the students gets if they choose to take the test is a reflection of how effective the teacher is in the classroom. I believe if we do this and start to follow what other countries that are rising up in the ranks of education globally are doing, the American educational system will also start to improve.
5. How do you plan to ensure that students around the United States are college and career ready when they graduate from High School? Explain with specific examples.
Another problem with the American educational system is getting students prepared for college and beyond. This is a major issue because children are going into schools not knowing what it actually will be like and not knowing how to handle the large increase of work that they have to do which leads to people failing out because of not being prepared. College is not inexpensive and when people pay a lot of money to go to a school just to fail out, that is a big issue. The solution to this is offering students at least 2 classes a day for college preparation. These classes will be all about what you need to know for college and strategies to help students get off to a good start. The classes will be taught but teachers who have had past experience in teaching college level classes or have been a college professor in the past. I believe this will greatly help kids go into college knowing what they’re doing and to get prepared for their future.
6. Education has been called the “great equalizer.” Do you believe this statement rings true today in the United States? Explain why or why not. * If you do not agree with this statement, how do you plan to change things? Explain.
In today’s world, I believe that education is, “the great equalizer” and because of this, it makes education that much more important. Without an education in today’s modern society, it would be very hard to find a good career path which is why education is such a big deal. Some kids do not realize how important an education really is and they need to be awakened to the fact that it is crucial. Education is, “the great equalizer” in the United States today because without it, it will be very difficult to maintain a solid income and to be successful while on the other hand, of you do have an education there are a lot more opportunities out there for someone to take advantage of.
7. What security measures do you believe need to be implemented into our schools in order to ensure the safety of America’s students and teachers? Provide specific examples and explanations.
The world is a bad and dangerous place and as sad as it is to say, schools sometimes are not safe. There have been many horrible tragedies such as school shootings and to prevent anything like that from happening again and again, we need to implement better security to ensure the safety of students. One thing I plan to change about school security are mandatory metal detectors. If someone were to enter a school building with a weapon such as a gun, knife or even bomb, a metal detector would pick it up and the problem would be solved right there and then. This would create a safer environment in school and children would have less to worry about while in school.
8. Do you believe New York State should offer free college for all high school graduates? Explain.
Yes i do believe that all children should be offered a free college education.Reducing college costs isn't only good for students, it also makes good economic sense for the nation. That's because allowing all of the most talented Americans to go to college, regardless of their ability to pay, means the U.S. will have the best-trained workforce in the highly competitive global economy. This will leave a lasting impression on the years to come.
. Do you believe there really is a crisis in American education? Explain. Examples: programs, classes, teachers, college preparedness, academic achievements, etc.
Yes because graduation rates are dropping rapidly. Only 58% of college students graduate from a 6 year college. The national dropout rate for highschool students is 84%. This is not what is need for our country to move in a positive direction. More education equals more successful people, which in turn leaves a better turnout for us all.