A Research On Education Policies Of U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton Administration

The political system--separation of powers is carried out in the United States, which seriously affects the institution of education policies. Besides, the President plays an indispensable role in instituting federal education policies. William Jefferson Clinton is the42nd American President, who is also called as "Education President" and, in current educational history of America, plays a role of inheriting the tradition and ushering in the future mission. During his presidency, he executed a series of educational reforms, whose proposals mainly include publicizing and establishing the standard of national education, developing charter schools, extending reading activities, promoting the prevalence of higher education. Through analyzing education policies of the Clinton administration, especially its programmatic bill--Goals2000:Educate America Act, this thesis exploring features of its education policies, the implementation effects and existing problems. It is indicated that, during his presidency, the education policies boast emphasizing education for all, giving priority to educational equilibrium, focusing on educational quality, stressing educational techniques. It achieves effectively in aspects of enhancing educational quality, expanding rights of education options and promoting parental participation. However, there also exist several problems, such as certain unreasonably enacted purposes, lack of continuity of educational development, and obvious educational disparity. Considering the specific role of the president, the thesis discusses the relationship between the president and education policies. It can be found that those factors, including education initiative put forward by the president, the president’s veto power entitled by the Constitution, the president’s educational philosophy and individual characteristic, all cast relevant influences on education policies. Eventually, it elaborates that, based on realistic situation in our country, we should draw experience of educational reform of the Clinton administration when our country is at the new period of educational reform. Furthermore, we should strive to ameliorate the following four perspectives:to better legal system of education, to extend educational devotion, to establish reasonable curriculum system and to promote educational justice.