Immigration, gun violence, terrorism, and the economy have dominated this year’s Republican and Democratic National Conventions. But one topic noticeably absent from that list is one that Americans consistently name as being a top priority to them: education.
Paul Reville, former Massachusetts Secretary of Education under Governor Deval Patrick and professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, took a closer look at how each party is addressing education issues.
Democrats: Dodging The Big Issues?
Reville praised Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s advocacy for early childhood education and her work with former rival Bernie Sanders on tackling student loan debt and the skyrocketing price of higher education in the party platform. But he says the Democrats have failed to tackle the big issues facing all the grade levels in between.
“I think they’re hopscotching over K-12 education because it’s such a volatile, divisive space right now with Common Core, teacher evaluations, charter schools,” Reville said.
“Frankly, I’m disappointed at some level with the Democrats, because I think they’re avoiding that set of issues,” he said.
Republicans: What’s the Plan?
As for the Republicans, there hasn’t been much policy talk about education either, but for a different reason: Republican nominee Donald Trump hasn’t staked out any solid positions yet, Reville said.
“This is an issue that he hasn’t spent any time on,” he said.
“When the major education publications are asking the Trump campaign about their position on these issues, they have to go to a spokesperson, because they have not articulated where they come down on issues like teacher evaluation or on issues of schools. It’s quite vague,” Reville continued.
In debates, Trump called Common Core a'total disaster’ and has advocated that it be abolished.
“I question whether he has even looked at Common Core, or knows what it is or how it was adopted,” Reville said. “He acts as though the federal government can tear up the Common Core—it’s actually a state initiative, adopted state-by-state,” he said.
To hear more from Paul Reville, tune in to Boston Public Radio above.
