Gilbert Gutknecht: “That is an excellent point, and one of the other points that our Governor made today is that for too long, in terms of…”

“That is an excellent point, and one of the other points that our Governor made today is that for too long, in terms of education, we have been so concerned with process, and we have not really been concerned with outcomes. The good news, I think, is that at all levels the cause is being driven that we have to be far more concerned with what kids actually can do and what they understand and what they know rather than the overall process of education. I do want to make a point, and I think the gentleman makes it well, that the truth of the matter is there are literally hundreds of thousands of incredibly dedicated teachers in this country and sometimes we get confused when we start debating education policy. And some of our critics like to say, you are just trying to bash teachers. That is certainly not the case, because the gentleman knows and I know, and I think since I have been elected I have visited something like 24 schools. I try to do that often. When I meet with teachers, I find groups of people, particularly at the elementary level, who are incredibly dedicated. But because of the bureaucratic redtape and rules and regulations that go with it, sometimes they are prevented from doing what is best for their kids. So when we talk about empow- erment, we want to return more of the decisionmaking back to the classroom and back to the parents.”