Blog For Georgia’s Children

Using energy independence as an example, The Wall Street Journal’s Gerald Seib today wonders out loud if America has lost faith in itself to tackle important issues that can benefit the country, even if there is consensus on a solution.  It should strike a chord, particularly among advocates for children who find it so difficult to build consensus even when the answers are clear.  What would it take for this country to get big things done once again?

Why is Rep. Randy Forbes all alone out there?

Rep. Forbes is an earnest Republican congressman from Virginia who has distinguished himself by calling for a “Manhattan Project” to fully end the U.S.’s dependence on foreign energy within 20 years. The Manhattan Project label harks back to the government’s crash project to develop and field a nuclear weapon within just a few years to prevail in World War II.

The implication is that the country’s fate is no less at stake now that its economy is being held hostage by a world oil market so out of control that even Saudi Arabia is watching helplessly. The surprise here lies not in Rep. Forbes’s proposal, though it is an interesting call for mandated higher auto fuel efficiency and expanded use of biofuels and nuclear and solar power, overseen by a new national science commission and fueled by big cash prizes dangled before scientists to conjure up solutions.

The surprising thing is that there aren’t 100 Randy Forbes out there, issuing similar calls to arms to seize this moment and finally cure the country’s oil addiction. As it happens, Rep. Forbes says he went roaming the Capitol looking for partners — and found no takers.

There are several possible explanations for this meekness in the face of challenge, but the most likely, and the most distressing, is this: America and its political leaders, after two decades of failing to come together to solve big problems, seem to have lost faith in their ability to do so. A political system that expects failure doesn’t try very hard to produce anything else. If you wonder why voters have made “change” the catchword of this campaign year, that’s a pretty good explanation.

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Georgia’s General Assembly failed to pass SB 506, the “SHAPE (Student Health and Physical Eduction) Act,” during the 2008 Legislative Session, an effort that would have modeled what appears to be a successful initiative by Arkansas to have schools and parents educate their children about unhealthy foods and monitor their body mass index (BMI).  Parents have had no issues with receiving confidential reports on obesity risks of their children while in grades 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10, a point of apprehension for some of Georgia’s lawmakers debating the Shape Bill.

The states’ leadership has acknowledged childhood obesity as an epidemic in Georgia, making the failure of passing similar legislation all the more puzzling.

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That’s the name of a task force of national policy experts in fields including education, social welfare, health, housing, and civil rights who have launched a campaign calling for a “Broader, Bolder Approach to Education” that seeks to break a decades-long cycle of reform efforts.  It specifically calls out No Child Left Behind, supporting the law’s correctness in school accountability yet taking it to task for ignoring social factors that hinder academic success among disadvantaged children.  In other words, all of the blame for under achievement cannot be placed on schools and teachers.

Excellent early childcare, education, health services and out of school time are as essential to success in school as is the quality of schooling from first grade on.

What we have is yet another worthy proposal made to federal and state policy makers by an authoritative group who can provide answers.  Will our elected leaders take their advice?

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