Because of this, and the fact that from ’53 to ’80 it was part of Health and Human Services, the argument is that it’s an unnecessary bureaucracy that eats up resources and should be abolished. But I couldn’t disagree more. There’s no denying that we’re still falling behind other countries, and it’s particularly troubling that we have a higher rate of people pursuing higher education who can do nothing with their degrees. There needs to be a national department whose sole focus is education, and there needs to be something on the federal level to guide education in this country pursuant of a common goal.

Also, Health and Human Services has enough on its place. What, dump it back on them? They serve entirely different functions. Eliminating it makes no sense other than to placate people for whom “big government” is invoked to create the heeby-jeebies and rally a base around a superficial philosophy.

On an unrelated note, why is Rick Petty getting rid of Education. I’m as Republican as they come and I’m not prepared to say our kids are as knowledgeable as they need to be.