Presidential candidate John Kerry is the site of a lot of controversy in the political discussions I've been having lately. Yes, he's the front-runner at the moment, but many of my friends would align themselves more closely with the far-left Howard Dean. However, Kerry is campaigning on an issue that is important to me personally, and one that must be addressed for the future of this country. Kerry talks like a teacher about education.

Coming from a university with a strong School of Education, and studying to become an English teacher myself, there is no question in my mind as to which candidate I need to stand behind. John Kerry has a plan for education in this country, and I believe that he has spent the time and energy necessary to give that plan a chance to succeed.

"While most politicians just talk about the importance of teachers, John Kerry believes we must actually do more to support and reward teaching." When I read this on John Kerry's website, I literally said to myself, "Well it's about damn time."

I grew up in a teaching family. My mother teaches, my aunt teaches, my grandmother used to teach, and now I am going to become a teacher. I have heard and witnessed a relative lack of governmental support for teachers and for education in this country. Hearing that Kerry wants to actively support teachers impresses me. And, as appears to be typical of the candidate, Kerry has grounded ideas on just how it is that he will show his support.

Kerry plans to create a $10,000 tax deduction for teachers working in under-privileged and low-achieving schools, and to implement a system whereby teachers would be paid more as the standards of their school increased. As a future teacher, I can personally say that the ten thousand dollars and a scale in my salary when my colleagues and I are successful with our students sounds like a wonderful deal. Kerry's hope, and mine as well, is that these benefits will encourage good teachers to go to underprivileged schools, thereby giving those schools the strong educational foundations they need.

Kerry's website, www.johnkerry.com, outlines a three-step plan to improve America's schools. The No Child Left Behind Act is the current administration's attempt to improve and create equality in education, through standardized testing and punitive initiatives. It is largely under-funded. Kerry seeks to reform the inherently poor judgment system employed by the Act. The website talks about taking the emphasis of the Act away from test scores, and looking at other factors such as graduation rates, teacher and student attendance, and parental satisfaction with the school. Kerry would take the focus of the Act away from punitive reactions, to proactively reward schools that show consistently higher standards.

The website states that "since schools, districts, and states are punished if they fail to make adequate progress, the incentive is to set expectations lower rather than higher." Kerry's plan, in contrast, promises incentives to promote higher standards, rather than punishments. He also desires to take measured steps to ensure that the law actually works, rather than simply mandating it, then letting states and districts work it out for themselves as the current administration has.

Kerry also wishes to create a National Education Trust Fund. This Fund would provide complete financial support for proper administering of the No Child Left Behind Act. Kerry's website proposes raising government spending on education from the current $23.8 billion figure to a substantially higher $35 billion by 2008. The site states that Kerry "believes it is time to stop sending mandates from Washington to school districts without providing the resources needed to carry them out." As an example of this, the website states that the state of Iowa would receive an additional $42 million this year if the No Child Left Behind Act were funded to the promised level.

This is just a piece of the picture that Kerry's website paints for the future of education. If this article interests you, or if you want to know Kerry's stand on other issues, I would encourage you to go to www.johnkerry.com and read up on this candidate for yourselves. As with all the staff here at The Flip Side, I would personally encourage anyone who reads this article to cast a vote on Tuesday and to do careful research on all of the candidates before making up your mind. Primaries are where the voice of the individual makes a great difference: it's our civic responsibility to ensure that we stand and be counted.