Jeb Bush no champion

Dan Gelber’s June 21 Other Views article, He ‘dumbed down’ Florida schools, sheds much needed light on Jeb Bush’s claim to be a champion of education.

Dan Gelber says, “It’s remarkable that folks who so revere free-market principles can believe that outputs have nothing to do with inputs.” A fair comment.

However, the larger goal of fostering a culture of simple-minded adherence to authoritarian, anti-scientific “leaders,” while eviscerating the middle class to create an economy of “haves” and “have nots,” is well served.

Outputs not mentioned but also noteworthy: the reduction and diversion of resources for educating special-needs students; the retirement of experienced, qualified educators; the influx of newer teachers brought up in this regime, some of whom lack the curiosity and imagination to bring out the best in their students.

Dulling both the mind, through reduced exposure to science, art, history and civics, sounds exactly like the output desired by some free marketeers.

This is a populace that evidently either doesn’t care or doesn’t know what is happening around them and is willing to believe even things as patently false as Bush’s claim to be a champion of education.

This story was originally published June 22, 2015 at 7:32 PM with the headline "Jeb Bush no champion."