Arguing that boosting teachers’ pay would not solve America’s education problems, Vice President Dan Quayle said last week that teachers should be motivated by idealism rather than materialism.
“Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children,” Mr. Quayle said at a luncheon at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank. “It is a unique profession,” he said, “and, by golly, I hope that when they go into the teaching field that they do have that zeal and they do have that mission and they do believe in teaching our kids, and they’re not getting into this just as a job or a way to put food on the table.”
President Bush gets an A, for rhetoric but a C for action when it comes to education, Allan W. Ostar, president of the American Association of State” Colleges and Universities, told reporters last week.
Robert H. Atwell, president of the American Council on Education, and Richard F. Rosser, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, joined Mr. Ostar in giving Mr. Bush a C and said the lukewarm assessment resulted from the Administration’s lack of an education policy.
The higher-education officials handed down their judgment at a luncheon with education reporters.
Robert Rosenzweig, president of the American Association of Universities, did not assign a letter grade but said he would give the President a slightly higher mark because of his emphasis on science and research.
The association presidents declined to grade Secretary of Education Lauro F. Cavazos, saying they wanted to hold the whole Bush Adminstration accountable.
But they said Mr. Cavazos was light-years ahead of former Secretary William J. Bennett when it came to maintaining contact with education associations.
Mr. Rosenzweig said higher-education officials view the upcoming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act as a critical test for the Secretary.
Mr. Cavazos hosted a half-American nations last week at a ceremony in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs into mid-October.
Jaime Ojeda, Spain’s ambassador to the United States, was the keynote speaker at the Education Department observance.--jm & mp
