Debate Sparks Talk of Education Reform

Monday brought an interesting turn to the 2016 electoral campaign for candidates Rebecca Sanders and Jordan Rubio. The first televised national debate was held on Ithaca College’s campus moderated by reporters from newspapers, “Red White and News”, and “The Grand Old Publication.” Both candidates stood strong as they were seemingly grilled on topics that included foreign policy, police brutality, education and immigration. One of these topics, education seemed to be have been put on the back burner in the presidential discussion after the terrorist attacks in Paris and other places sparked a foreign policy heavy battle early on in the campaigns. However this topic was revitalized during the first debate and both candidates gave their potential plan for the future as far as managing public schools and further learning institutions such as college. Democratic candidate Rebecca Sanders continued her support for the use of common core, but its modification to better fit the changing times of today. Sanders explained how she wanted to invest more money into job training, coupled with the common core. Doing so would allow people that choose to not attend college a medium to gain a job. Sanders has placed a heavy emphasis in the past on young adults not having the opportunity after college to gain jobs in their field, or jobs at all, which leaves them out on the street with a limited source of income. Putting more money into job training can provide relief for young adults that attend college and cannot find a job, as well as for young adults that do not attend college, but are still looking for a job. As far as Republican Candidate Jordan Rubio’s opinion on education, he seems confused. At points during the debate he noted that he would like to reform the common core. At other times he suggested removing the common core standards. Nevertheless, the one main emphasis of Rubio’s stance of education was vocational schools. Continually Rubio talked about creating more vocational schools for high school students so they would have the ability to work directly out of high school in mechanical jobs. This would prevent students from accruing such large amounts of debt from college before even managing to receive a job. Rubio also brought up the possible idea of establishing a program where the government would pay for student’s tuition for colleges and in return, once the student graduates, a portion of their income goes to the government to repay them. This plan is something that other politicians have been discussing recently and it will be interesting to see if there is any progress made for it’s implantation or if it garners any other support. While the topic of education seemed to be thrown onto the back burner earlier in the electoral campaign, it was revitalized at the debate on Monday night when both Rebecca Sanders and Jordan Rubio discussed their possible plans for education reform in America.