Judge Closes Sell-Your-Vote SiteCan't Sell Your Vote; Vouchers; Students Disconnected; and a Distance Ed. Diary
20 October 2000
Bush's Voucher Plan vs. Bush's Voucher Rhetoric
In a Slate analysis from 10/19/00, Jacob Weisberg looks at the school
voucher exchange between Governor Bush and Vice President Gore in the
third debate. Bush insisted his voucher plan would give parents and school
districts "local control," while Gore assailed it as having mandates that
require states to match the voucher monies the Bush plan would offer to
parents via federal Title 1 dollars. Mandating without funding is seen by
states as a burden that undermines local control because the federal
government dictates state budgets, taking control away from states on how
to spend their own money. Weisberg concludes, based on looking at Bush's
plan in more detail, that Gore is right. He also notes, as do most
teachers, that the amount given to parents under Bush's plan would barely
pay for piano lessons for a year, let alone help students get into a good
private school. For his analysis, go to
http://slate.msn.com/code/BallotBox/BallotBox.asp?Show=10/19/2000&idMessage=6321.
Are Our Students Disconnected from Presidential Politics?
MTV, according to an Associated Press report, claims young voters are
disconnected from presidential politics. Of those surveyed, 25% couldn't
name both major party presidential candidates, 70% couldn't name both
vice-presidential candidates, and only one third of the 3,000 students
polled said they planned to vote. The odd and troubling thing for the major parties is that this is
otherwise a very politically and socially active generation on many
college campuses. Students do community service, participate in marches
and protests, and can articulate positions on a range of issues they care
about. So why the disconnect with presidential politics? Those surveyed
named the usual suspects: voting doesn't matter, the country's doing okay
anyway, politics is corrupt, and local activism makes a bigger difference.
For more, see David Bauder's 10/19/00 AP report in
Salon (which gets its headline wrong) at
http://www.salon.com/mwt/wire/2000/10/19/young_voters/index.html.
Diary of a Distance Education Student
Although the student is atypical and his diary brief, it still offers
useful insights into some of the promises and perils of a distance
education course. Written by Jay Matthews, a Washington Post reporter
who took an education course online to better know what teachers learn
about teaching, the diary takes readers through course registration,
computer glitches, online discussion, and emails with teachers. It's a
pretty good view of online learning from a student's perspective.
Matthews' piece appeared on 10/15/00 and can be found at http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/education/distancelearning/A61979-2000Oct12.html..