Pretty much everything the Federal government has absorbed they have destroyed or hobbled. (i.e. Social Security, Medicare, Education, etc.) The Federal governments' role in education other than funding building maintainance and tranportation should be kept to a "bare bones" minimum. It should have little to NO role in education. The Department of Education is an enhancement and enlargement of government, not an educational tool, thanks to Jimmy Carter. The downfall of education has also been notable since that time. Education is becoming "indoctrination" instead of education due to political correctness and the push for diversity awareness. The latest intrusion is NCLB. This is a perfect example of nonsensical gobbledygook. Schools should be under the control of local and state government and properly funded. This intrusionary role that the federal government is and has been taking needs to stop. There are far too many unfunded mandates and I should add, far too many unnecessary mandates that really do not enhance education, but rather hinder the efforts of it. Untie the hands of the teachers, support them with strong disciplinary enforcement, less nonsensical paperwork and allow them to do what they are trained to do and do best, TEACH. Bring back "common sense". Allow and encourage the teaching of history, math, science, the arts and others, not some politically correct version that ultimately is promoting some philosophical agenda. Require students to learn before they are promoted to another grade. Require school board members to have some background in education to be nominated or elected. Otherwise it becomes nothing more than a hiring board for friends and relatives and personal agendas. ENABLE the teachers to teach instead of enabling the students and parents to blame everyone else for their failures. Education is saveable, but it needs to happen from the bottom up with support, not the top down with agendas. Unfortunately,I don't see that ever happening. It is another arm of government that has grown out of control.

And see, I relied on the spell checker instead of carefully proof reading my posting! Obviously technology has dumbed me down! I'll blame it on the "govenrment!"