Jesse Ventura Rebuttal 1
Question 1: Many alternatives to the existing education
system have been proposed; including charter schools, vouchers and private
sector involvement. Do you favor any of these approaches, or do you
have specific proposals to strengthen the current system?
Taxpayers pay every time the government creates or expands a program.
The programs proposed my by liberal-spending opponents have to be paid
for somehow. Where will all the money come from? It is easy to make a
great campaign promise for great-sounding education programs. But who
pays? How much? And, when? And, how do we know it will be worth the
money? How do we know it will work?
Throwing money at problems doesn't always solve them. Spending for
education has gone up while test scores have gone down. Changing the
amount we spend on education assures nothing. Being careful about how
we spend money on education is more likely to do more good.
As Governor, I will work hard to help put up the best public school
system we can. But that's only the beginning of the story. We can't
just throw money at schools, drop kids in buildings, and expect them
to learn. Students and their parents also share responsibility for a
student's education and individual achievement.
It's easy to address education by making campaign proposals designed
to get you elected. It's not so easy to look parents in the eye and
tell them they should do more to help make sure their kids are paying
attention in school. As Governor, I'll do my part to make sure the
schools and teachers are doing their part. I will also expect parents
and students to do their part in helping the public schools work.
