Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina argued for diminishing the federal government’s role in education while on the campaign trail in New Hampshire on Wednesday.
Sandwiched between appearances by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich at an education summit in the “Live Free or Die” state, Fiorina stood out for railing against teachers who “teach to the test.”
Both Kasich and Bush have supported Common Core educational standards in the past, although Kasich avoided providing a direct yes or no answer about whether he still supports the standards while onstage Wednesday.
“If you want risk taking, you must tolerate mistakemaking,” Fiorina said onstage. “Innovation and excellence usually happen from the bottom up, not the top down … A seniority system over time discourages excellence. A seniority system rewards you for just sitting in the chair.”
Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, touted the influence of technology on education, and praised MOOCs, massive open online courses, which allow large audiences to learn remotely from teachers via the Internet. But, she added, “It’s critically important that we think of technology as a tool, not a silver bullet.”
She said teachers must never be removed from the classroom, but parents must have the choice to place their children in classes featuring the best teachers. Fiorina fondly remembered her experiences with her own teachers growing up, and shared the story of a teacher who told her that her essays’ length should be similar to a woman’s skirt in that her written work should be long enough to cover the important parts and short enough to be interesting.
When asked about potential secretaries of education and who she listens to on education policy, Fiorina did not mention any names — Bush, on the other hand, mentioned former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels in response to a similar question from the moderator. Instead, Fiorina said she would look for someone whose top priority would be to audit the Department of Education to better determine its legitimate functions.
She said “human potential” was the only resource America needed to solve its problems, and that ‘innovation’ has functioned as the United States’ “secret sauce” in its recipe for success.
“Innovation is the coin of the realm in the 21st century. The society that innovates most will dominate the 21st century,” she said. “I worry that we get so focused on preparing people for a career that we forget to feed their souls and build their character.”
As the Washington Examiner‘s Jason Russell noted earlier, Fiorina said everyone needs to “take” the U.S. citizenship test, although she did not say whether she thought they must “pass” the test. Birthright citizenship is an issue Donald Trump, the reality TV star turned GOP front-runner for president, has raised on the campaign trail.
Fiorina focused much of her speech on her desire to fundamentally reorient society’s thinking about education, so that people do not believe a child’s potential is determined by their individual circumstances or geographical location but by their God-given gifts.
