Former Bush-administration official in the Department of Education, and current Vice President of the Fordham Foundation, Michael Petrilli wrote an interesting article published by National Review Online. Petrilli evaluated the education platforms and compared where candidates agreed. Interesting not much has changed regarding the overall Republican and Democrat education philosophy. ?Democrats want more resources for the system, Republicans want to empower parents with more options. Yawn.?  He compared a quote from Bush in 1999 and a quote the Obama:

    Bush:  ?Now some say it is unfair to hold disadvantaged children to rigorous standards. I say it is discrimination to require anything less ? the soft bigotry of low expectations?. It is a scandal of the first order when the average test scores of African-American and Latino students at age 17 are roughly the same as white 13-year-olds?. Whatever the cause, the effect is discrimination. Children who never master reading will never master learning. They will face a life of frustration on the fringes of society?.?
    Obama: ?I do not accept an America where we do nothing about six million students who are reading below their grade level ? an America where sixty percent of African-American fourth graders aren?t even reading at the basic level. I do not accept an America where only twenty percent of our students are prepared to take college-level classes in English, math, and science ? where barely one in ten low-income students will ever graduate from college?. This kind of America is morally unacceptable for our children. It?s economically untenable for our future. And it?s not who we are as a country.?

OK, OK  – we all know the system is broken, but the education establishment and their political stronghold control the issue. Reform is much more difficult than political rhetoric.