Dr. Ben Carson: Best Education Is ‘Closest To Home’ Not In Washington, D.C.

GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson joined Breitbart News Daily with host Breitbart News’s editor-in-chief Alex Marlow to discuss his education plan, which he revealed exclusively to Breitbart on Friday morning.

“The key thing is that the best education is the education that is closest to home, not education that is dictated centrally from Washington, D.C.,” Carson told Marlow. “We want to re-empower teachers and parents and provide school choice. I think that is absolutely crucial because we have many failing school systems particularly in our inner cities.”

Carson said that drop out rates for students are high, and in order to change that, “we need to give them real choices.”

Carson’s education plan has “five principles to restore American exceptionalism in our schools:”

• School Choice
  • “I will actively support school choice programs, such as school vouchers and charter schools, so every student has the opportunity to fully realize his or her God-given potential.”
• Empower Parents, Teachers, Local School Districts and the States – Not Washington
  • “In education, as in so many endeavors, the best decisions are the ones made by those closest to the issue. I will work to directly support students, cut red tape and reduce the size and authority of the Washington educational bureaucracy.”
• Encourage Innovation
  • “Everywhere I travel, I am inspired by the creativity of educators whose ideas offer real promise for tomorrow’s students. Rather than micromanaging these educational innovators with onesize- fits-all regulations that suppress their ingenuity, we should promote innovative ideas in education.”
• Reward Good Teachers
  • “It is long past the time to give teachers the respect and the resources they deserve. Instead of an outdated system that rewards teacher tenure over performance, I will advocate for flexible block grants to the states to advance and reward teacher quality, and to develop teacher evaluation systems that focus on effectiveness in advancing student achievement.”
• A Simpler, Streamlined Student Loan Process
  • “The Department of Education needs to get out of the lending business. We need a simpler, more streamlined and transparent financial aid process that gives students and their families the kind of simple, reliable information they need to make good decisions.”

Carson said the private sector rewards teachers for doing an outstanding job and that rewarding educators is important.

“We have to really alter that scenario quite substantially,” he added.

Carson stressed that American students have to compete with China. “We need to think about innovation,” he stated.

Hear the interview: