By Chris Fuchs
Clinton spoke extensively about what she called “gaps” in the American education system, laying out proposals for shoring up the widening rift created by teachers and principals who in recent years have deserted the public school system.
“If we are going to demand a higher accountability, then we must give our kids the resources to move that along,” Clinton said, adding that the “demeaning practice” of social promotion must end.
Before Clinton spoke, Queens Borough President Claire Shulman discussed specifically the woes of public schools in Queens. Shulman said there are 30,000 students from kindergarten to 12th grade without seats in classrooms in the borough. This year, she said, room was made for 5,000 additional students.
During her halfhour-long speech, Clinton spoke of a number of gaps afflicting the education system, gaps that she said are universally endemic to students in all grades. Clinton also cited statistics that indicate New York City will lose 70 percent of its teachers within the next five years. As a consequence, she said, a “teacher gap” will begin to broaden and deepen, becoming more abysmal with time.
Clinton proposed creating a national teachers corps, which would award scholarships to college students who agree to teach in at-risk schools for four years upon graduating. She also suggested giving financial incentives, born out of surpluses in the federal budget, in the form of signing bonuses to so-called mid-career professionals who become teachers.
As a sister initiative to her proposed teachers corps, Clinton said she would also establish a principals corps of America. The program, she said, would provide new principals with salaries commensurate to those they would receive, for instance, in the business world. This, in turn, would attract a wider cross-section of professionals with a solid business acumen, an attribute regarded by some educators as necessary for effective education administration.
During the question-and-answer period that followed, attendees fired off a number of queries centered on such hotbed topics as why she chose New York state as her senatorial proving ground and her stance on the Middle East peace process.
“Why wouldn
