DES MOINES, Iowa, Sept. 22 Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said he would try to level the differences between rich and poor schools in the United States if he is elected.
In a speech at a middle school in Des Moines, Iowa, the former North Carolina senator also attacked the "No Child Left Behind Act," which he supported as a senator, The Des Moines Register reported. He said that in practice the bill's provisions have set up inadequate measures of school progress and penalized schools instead of helping them.
Many schools fail to provide a decent education, he said, especially when their students are poor.
"We have to ask ourselves, why are the odds so stacked against so many just because of where they were born?" he said.
Edwards also called for an increase in teacher pay, especially for those who teach in poor districts, and said he would set up an educational West Point to encourage top students to become teachers.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
