{"id":4768,"date":"2009-07-31T09:26:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-31T15:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/07\/for-the-gop-education-needs-to-be-a-top-priority\/"},"modified":"2010-07-02T13:59:26","modified_gmt":"2010-07-02T19:59:26","slug":"for-the-gop-education-needs-to-be-a-top-priority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/07\/for-the-gop-education-needs-to-be-a-top-priority\/","title":{"rendered":"For the GOP, education needs to be a top priority"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By Sarah Lenti<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s start with the assumption that the Republican Party actually wants to take on the responsibility of being the majority party (again). And I mean what I am writing here — the party is going to have to want, really want, to legislate, even if it means making hard choices and, god-forbid, leaning across the aisle from time to time.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

If the Republican Party is serious about rebuilding an effective majority over time, then education needs to be one of the top tier priorities. Why, you ask?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Simple. If you believe that good governance starts with leadership, then education is a critical first step toward both ends. If you agree that leadership is part ingrained and part learned, then you\u2019d also likely agree that America would be wise to err on the side of over-educating as opposed to under-educating.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

How can our party expect to lead again if we are not producing a new generation of voters and leaders who are competitive, analytical in their decision-making, intellectually curious and capable of deciphering between and amongst new ideas?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Championing education (if done sagely) will be a way for any new Republican leadership to harness bipartisanship. After all, education is hardly a Republican or Democratic issue — the line is blurring. And it\u2019s not a state-by-state issue, though there are marked differences with the test scores coming out of Massachusetts and New Jersey vs. Michigan and New Mexico. (Check out this chart<\/a> comparing National Assessment of Educational Progress scores.)<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

You would be hard pressed to find a thoughtful person who would disagree with the statement that all children — regardless of race, ability or socioeconomic status — deserve quality teachers, higher standards than are currently in play, accountability for schools nationwide and, perhaps most importantly, high expectations in each student\u2019s individual capabilities.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

(Parenthetically, to this day I have not forgotten when my guidance counselor told me I was \u201cnot qualified\u201d to enroll in my public school\u2019s honors classes (I forced a waiver) and then when a relative told me I was crazy to apply to Ivy Leagues for grad school (I ended up at one on full scholarship!). Point is — imagine what students could achieve if the bar was set high, rather than being used as a barring hindrance?)<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Stop straying from conservative principles<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

If the Republican Party is serious about becoming the Party of the People, then we ought to get serious about ensuring that next generation of learned people who are rising through the ranks are analytical, not Wikipedia<\/a>-ites; thoughtful, not lackadaisical; compassionate, not cut-throat; and internationally aware and competitive, not America-only focused and continuously being outperformed by countries like Singapore, Japan, England and Russia, to name a few (see 2007 TIMSS Report<\/a>).<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

How do we, the Republican Party, grow the next generation of leaders (and thereby help ourselves)?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Easy. Stop straying from our basic, core conservative principles. These principles reward hard work and actual achievement. They demand excellence through competition. They champion individuality, not conformity. They dare the individual to say \u201cYes I can,\u201d not \u201cHow, America, can you help me?\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take these core principles and reapply them to our party, and our schools — and then watch and see.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Lenti<\/a> currently works as a policy consultant and advisor to Republican Party leaders, executives and candidates. She has worked in New Mexico and other states on presidential and congressional races and has a background in national security. Contact her at sarah.lenti@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sarah Lenti So, let\u2019s start with the assumption that the Republican Party actually wants to take on the responsibility of being the majority party (again). And I mean what I am writing here — the party is going to have to want, really want, to legislate, even if it means making hard choices and, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1196,181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs","category-the-savvy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4768\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}