Obama is an Alien

We've learned from recent letters that President Obama, Commander in Chief of a military whose budget is greater than Russia, China, France and the UK combined, is actually an evil interloper from the planet Mars whose sole task is to enslave the people of earth and herd them like cattle to the ships that will await them after the election. Then to be feasted upon by the Morlocks who live in the underground caverns on their home planet. Based upon that forgone conclusion, perhaps we should divert our attention to other political races whose outcome may actually have a greater impact on our daily lives.

    Lost in all the chatter is the race for Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Republican incumbent Dr. Tony Bennett and Democratic challenger Democrat Glenda Ritz.

This particular race comes down to how you feel about the philosophy of privatization of public schools and standardized testing as the yardstick to determine it's necessity. In my mind once you put a corporation in charge of anything, suddenly profits become more important than the outcome of the original mission statement, which in this case would be the general welfare of our children.

In that regard Dr. Bennett is pushing to speed up the time-line for state takeover of struggling schools. He’s also seeking legislative support for the power to take over entire school corporations. He has raised 30 times the amount of money for his campaign, a large share of that from sources outside the state. Why are corporations and individuals from outside Indiana sticking their nose in our business? See... http://stateimpact.npr.org/indiana/bennett-campaign-contributions-august-2012/

Glenda Ritz states she would roll back many of Dr. Tony Bennett's initiatives, in particular the IREAD-3 test for third graders. Ritz, a library media specialist in Indianapolis’ Washington Township, says she’s seen firsthand the detrimental effects of the IREAD-3.

Mine is a case in point. My Grandnephew missed passing the I-READ by exactly 1 point. He was an A-B student and had made the honor roll. He went on to pass the summer program and advance to the 4^th grade where he is already on track to make the honor roll again. How can this be? Perhaps the I-READ and standardized testing in general is essentially flawed and doesn't take into account the subject matter and teaching methods that our teachers are using. IREAD-3 serves to be a major distraction for the current course of education and forces teachers to divert their efforts into taking the time to teach to the test before they can move on. Not to mention the negative psychological effect on a student who has worked hard all year to get passing grades, only to be held back by the results of a single test.

So remember there is much more at stake this year than tax breaks for overseas corporations, subsidies for rich farmers, flag burning and gay marriage, there is the future of your child's education. Vote for Glenda Ritz Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction.