Should the federal government mandate that all states work on the same curriculum and standards?
105887
No.  Education should be a local issue and should be decided by local school districts with guidance from a state department of education.
662804
Your administration should provide you with standards, I would think?  Or ask another teacher for examples?
653889
only if it is free to do as it wishes without govrnment laws and rules .                 yes i do in fact make it its own country the idea that every state should be the same is just nuts people need a variety of choices we should have at least one state where doing whatever you want is ok lets make it new york then we could get ride of people who cause us problems like people who hate others and only allow you to do what they beleive is right. enough peoplelive in newyork to make it the kinda place thats deverse enough to handle its freedomif the government didnt take so much from newyorkers maybe they could fix a few problems they have put out all the homeless and sick people and the lazzy ones on welfare the biggoted ones who spread hate the hetero sexuals that fill the city till it over flows wait i have gone to far all these rules and laws ruin a people as diverse as americans and making all states the same is no freedom at all let california have legal pot if you dont like it move .let georgia have drunk drivers give florida all the petofials they well have a tough time finding people young enough to molest lol but you do  get the point i hope we all cant agree all the time so the needs of all the people should be met if 50.000 people are killed because of drunk driving that means alot of people wanna drive drunk if 1,000,000 people are in jail for drug crimes then alot of people wanto do drugs if you dont want to live by these peopledont make them criminals give them someplaceto call home new york sanfransisco la. atlanta chicago  create unsafe zzones where people can be free to choose  rebuild new orleans  but make it free maybe .
785623
Critical thinking skills, communication skills (interacting/socialization), reading and writing, and movement. All of these things need to be covered in the context of the topics covered and at the level of the student. \n\nAll states have standards that have been defined by stake-holders as to what is suppose to be covered in each grade.
1095485
If you are speaking of having the government interfere with what we as parents and responsible adults do to teach our children, then no. With regards to the FCC, and what is transmitted over the airwaves and is available for public display, yes. However, the government should also set absolute specifics for such media outlets. \n\nBut when it comes to moral standards, parents, should simply get off their lazy asses, and teach their children right from wrong, talk with them and keep an open line of communication.
239733
Yes... it's not particularly a great indicator of everything, but necessary for comparing scores with other areas.\n\nIf there was no standardization, an A in Vermont could be an E in Maine.
82905
In a perfect world, it would be nice to not have to rely on things such a standardized tests to measure the quality of education, but in a country with such a huge public school system, that is not really probable. I don't think standardized tests in themselves are a bad thing. I agree that there should be standards and checkpoints. It becomes a problem when teachers are forced to teach to these tests. The true goal of education is lost in trying to raise test-scores. This is even more true when the attainment of school-funding rides on these tests. No Child Left Behind is a disasterous plan. Even if its trickery works and some test scores are raised, are students actually learning more?\nTo completely abolish the use of standardized tests would mean a complete renovation of our public school system, and unfortunately, that is not going to happen.
111887
HERE ARE THE STATES STANDARDS http://sbci.cps.k12.il.us/curriculum.html\n\nHERE IS A SIMPLIFIED VERSION\nhttp://iirc.niu.edu/scripts/knowsb.asp?schoolID=9999999999999&grade=1&subject=READ
471326
Not in state-funded schools--separation of church and state should be strictly enforced.  In religious-run institutions, they should do whatever they want.  If a student didn't want the religious instruction, they could go somewhere else.  In my perfect world.
397477
whether it's fair or not, limiting budgets will increase the parity.  i don't think parity can ever be equalized since certain factors will always be different - things like school size, location, admissions standards, etc.
853040
Ah, the same reason why California has a very confusing ( and constantly changing ) gun law.\n\nYou see, there's a Federal constitution and a State Constitution.  The Federal Constitution is the minimum, the standard for all states.  But, since there is nothing written down in the Federal constitution that says same sex marriages are allowed, the individual states can out law them with in their own borders.\nYes, I understand your point, but it's not about morality.  It's about politics.  Which basically translates to votes.  The leaders need to be popular with the masses to keep their jobs.
370529
You might want to check with your State Education Dept first to see what they accept. Every state is different and before you put a lot of effort in this you should have a good idea of what the rules and regulations are.
126372
Not exactly.  The school curricula are limited so as not to offend one group or another, because school boards don't like controversy--it isn't good for their continued employment.  A friend of mine who used to work for Holt, Rinehart & Winston talked every once in a while about everything they weren't allowed to put in the textbooks because someone in Kansas or somewhere might get upset--and since it's cheaper to publish one book for the whole country than it is to specialize them by state, the attitudes of people in one state can easily influence what goes into textbooks across the country.\n\nThis limits the amount of real education that takes place, which in turn can keep kids from being exposed to intelligent, reasoned debate.  This makes it harder for them to think clearly when they grow up, if they're not learning it at home.\n\nSo yes, history does appear to be badly taught in public schools, and part of it is intentional.  But I think the gullibility and mindless consumerism is a side effect, not the primary cause.
197580
I don't know if you can find this information, but even if you could it wouldn't be helpful.  A national attrition rate is too large of a sample to be useful - State rates and the rates inside individual LEA's are far more important.  In the end, no matter what the Federal government wants to think, education is a state issue and a right granted to the states by the US Constitution.  And the disparity between regions, states and LEA's is WAY too broad to give you any kind of useful answer at the national level.
723366
No, if anything we should give the individual states more power to govern themselves. The federal governmnet already has too much power over the states as it is.
651851
It depends entirely on the state.
946787
Governments are formed by people in order to accomplish common goals which would be unattainable by individuals or businesses.  In our tiered system each tier is best suited to accomplish certain goals.  \n\nGovernments should only take it upon themselves to provide services that 1) the community wants/needs and 2) cannot be accomplished be individuals or businesses.  \n\nOnce a "common goal" meets the above criteria then it should be assigned to the appropriate tier (Federal, State, County or City) of government which is best suited to accomplish that goal.  Not every problem requires an act of Congress.  For example, some communities have passed ordinances against parking cars in the front lawn of a home; it is not necessary for congress to pass legislation forcing the entire country to abide by this.  In the inverse the Federal Government is obviously best suited to provide National Security; if it were left up to the states we would have to deal with the chaos of 50 separate armies.