J.C. Watts to Akron crowd: Education should be on campaigns' fr...

Former Oklahoma representative J.C. Watts Jr. told a Greater Akron Chamber audience on Monday that the presidential candidates need to campaign on education in a way that transcends the typical debate ...

[ziptrumpet87]

I thought J.C.Watts was going to have a bright political career years ago after he gave his speech at the Republican Convention. Maybe he'll get chosen for McCain's cabinet (if McCain gets elected). Unfortunately, education is handled at the state level, so I don't know how much they can affect the school year, pay, benefits, etc.

[Coach Waldowoski]

Sounds like a cool event. Props to the Chamber for bringing in such a well know speaker. Education needs to get fixed and needs to be a priority. The answer is not: Send Joey to a Charter school. Thanks JC and you were a pretty good QB!

[Scooter Moonpie]

I'd vote for Watts.

[Black and Proud]

Education is very important and please keep in mind charter schools would not be here if the public schools were doing there job. The citzens of Akron has passed levy's for Akron Public Schools now it's time for APS to fire bad teachers
and kick trouble makers out of school and get back to teaching like they did thirty years ago

[Big O]

He would be a good VP for McCain

[Howard Beale Jr]

I doubt J.C. would stand for becoming a useful idiot for the neocons (Mad Mac). This would be a wonderful opportunity for J.C. to run as an independent.

[ziptrumpet87]

Black and Proud wrote:

Education is very important and please keep in mind charter schools would not be here if the public schools were doing there job. The citzens of Akron has passed levy's for Akron Public Schools now it's time for APS to fire bad teachers
and kick trouble makers out of school and get back to teaching like they did thirty years ago

I agree that if the public schools were able to produce good students that graduate there would be little demand for charter schools unless they offered something not available in the public school system. I'm not going to completely blame the schools though, because some of the blame belongs on parents or society not valuing their education and not enforcing it at home. I'm sure there are some "bad" teachers, but there's blame enough to go around.

I did think JCWatts had a chance to run, but not being in the Senate or House may hurt his chances. I'd be willing to look at him if he was a candidate though.

[BuckeyeBorn]

Education should be at or near Job One - what this country needs is a generation of achievers.

[John]

EVERY single family in the small town school where I teach that choose charter schools over public schools do so because their children do little to no work, or their parents do not want them disciplined for any reason. NEVER, in the 8 years that I have been teaching, did parents choose a charter school because it would provide a so-called better education for their child. Never.

In addition, please research the charter schools across Ohio and find one that provides a better education than a public school. Check their graduation rates. Check their test scores.
Use this website to compare their student expenditure, which is quite high, with that of your local school. Then, compare your test scores and tell me that they provide a great education.

This link will show you the charter schools in Ohio, and you can scroll down to get the link to the state test scores.
http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/s...

Charter schools may look great compared to inner-city schools, but please know that inner city test scores are so low because only about 50% of their students show up on test day. So if 100% of their kids who take the test pass, their passing % would only be 50%. And who is to blame when kids don't go to school?