Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHoping to exploit a 'struggling' school, Romney struggles to defend his policy to minority educators
The Republican presidential candidate visited a West Philadelphia charter school on Thursday, a day after declaring education is the "civil rights issue of our era."
Romney repeated that declaration during the school visit, but struggled to defend his view that class sizes aren't a major factor in educational success. Local African-American leaders also said his push for more two-parent families isn't realistic in their community.
The charter school's founder also said he's not sure whether Romney understands the needs of the African-American community.
read: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/romney-faces-tough-questions-black-leaders-16421737#.T75n7lLAGQs
"I came into office and talked to people and said, 'What can we do to improve our schools?'" Romney said at his Thursday event. "And a number of folks said we need smaller classroom sizes, that will make the biggest difference . . . The schools in the district with the smallest classroom sizes had students performing in the bottom 10%," Romney said. "Just getting smaller classrooms didn't seem to be the key."
Romney was pressed on his stance by a music teacher at the charter school who questioned the research Romney cited.
"I can't think of any teacher in the whole time I've been teaching, for 10 years, 13 years, who would say that more students would benefit them," Steven Morris, the teacher, said. "And I can't think of a parent who would say 'I would like my student to be in a classroom with a lot of kids with only one teacher.' So I'm kind of wondering where this research comes from."
Another teacher participating in the roundtable said unequivocally that he had too many students in his classroom.
"It's too large," the second teacher said. "It varies between classes, anywhere between 20 and 28. You can give more personalized attention to each student if you have a smaller class size."
read/watch: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/24/romney-defends-class-size-stance-to-teachers/
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
3 replies, 923 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (4)
ReplyReply to this post
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Hoping to exploit a 'struggling' school, Romney struggles to defend his policy to minority educators (Original Post)
bigtree
May 2012
OP
uponit7771
(90,364 posts)1. rMoney is going to start saying that grass is blue
bigtree
(86,005 posts)2. he's 0-3 on these showdowns
the 'failed' plant he visited, etc.
His campaign is as daft as he is.
asjr
(10,479 posts)3. Mr. Know nothing Bland Romney doesn't know
his fanny from a hole-in-the-ground. His followers need to step wisely behind him.