Listen to What Ronald Reagan says about Unions

“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. … Their number is negligible and they are stupid.” -Eisenhower

The quote was one that Ike had penned in a letter to his brother Edgar in November of 1954.

I would like to thank Caffeinated Politics (http://dekerivers.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/president-eisenhower-on-labor-unions/) for finding this quote.

The information document was shared with the Senate Education Committee members to address the concern that have been raised about the quality of our public schools. It startled and amazed virtually all of them. Among the most jaw-dropping –literally – were

• Indiana teachers rank first in the nation for credentials in teaching what they teach (in other words in CONTENT certification which with the Governor should be THE priority. We subscribe to a higher standard – that both content and teaching skills are important.

• If Indiana were a country, our 4th and 8th grade math students would rank 7th highest IN THE WORLD.

• 87% of our students rank the equivalent of a C or higher on NAEP 4th grade math tests. (That’s a higher standard than a passing score and -
at nearly 90% with a C or better equivalent – is truly phenomenal.)

So the rhetoric that would lead the public to believe our schools are failing, teachers are not all that effective so evaluations procedures must be severely tightened and prescript, that teachers have focused on OTHER than student achievement are misleading, unfair, and not research driven.