Isakson motivates students to action

Georgia’s own U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson spoke to GCSU students, faculty and Milledgeville residents last Friday for an hour in the University Banquet Room. Isakson holds an impressive 30 years of government leadership experiences, holding positions with the Georgia Assembly, House of Representatives, chairman of the Georgia school board and now as Georgia’s Junior U.S. Senator. He also co-wrote the controversial No Child Left Behind Act, or NCLB, back in 2001.
“It’s a great honor to have him here, and with him potentially running for governor (of Georgia), this gives him a chance to appeal to young voters,” said Jason White, chairman of the GCSU College Republicans. “I hope students gain the feeling that Senators and Congressmen are approachable and have the best interests of their constituents in mind.”
At around 2:15 p.m., Isakson made his entrance, making it a point to firmly shake every hand in the room. With his cordial small talk and polite jokes, Isakson eased the crowd with an air of genuine Southern likeability.
Justin Reeves, sophomore history major and SGA senator, was excited to see GCSU host a local politician.
“It gives students a voice and lets us know what’s going on in the upper echelon of our government,” Reeves said.
After his quick 15-minute speech, Isakson opened the room for an informal Q&A session. He answered seven questions from the audience, but only two from the 30 or so GCSU students who attended.
When asked about the possibility of a civilian draft for the War in Iraq, Isakson dismissed the notion: “I don’t think a draft is a plausible solution because of the high technological proficiency needed to operate our military.”
Just nine days before, Isakson spent the night in a Sheraton hotel in Baghdad, Iraq. He claims that it’s a very “calm environment in the green zone.” Isakson states that during his time in Iraq, “I have yet to find a soldier who had a single negative complaint about the War on Terror.”
On the issue of education, Isakson was firm on his view to reauthorize his NCLB Act. Yet Isakson also spoke of the needed reforms to the bill, such as re-examining special education and non-English speaking student assessments, as well as changing the definition of “qualified teachers” and giving a three-year cushion for schools before labeling them with a “needs improvement” stigma.
Higher education bills regarding student loans are also at the top of the education agenda according to Isakson.
“In the end, the most important thing is to see to it that all of our citizens have access to the highest education possible,” Isakson said.
To Reeves, Isakson’s answers seemed fair.
“I haven’t been one to support the No Child Left Behind Act, but he did bring up a lot of weakness in it. I also liked the points he made about the progress in Iraq. I don’t think everything is as perfect as he says, but I think he was pretty bipartisan in most things he said,” Reeves said.
Joel Graham, sophomore economics major, wished Isakson could have covered one more topic.
“He pretty much covered all that was on my mind except for Social Security. I wish that would have been brought up because it certainly needs to be looked at for our generation,” Graham said.
Kaleigh Alcarez, sophomore early education major, also hoped Isakson could have answered more questions.
“I wish he would have gone into more detail with the No Child Left Behind Act since I’ve heard a lot of criticism mainly from educators, but what he said seemed good,” Alcarez said. “Even though I’m not a full-fledged republican I actually agreed with a lot of what he said.”
One GCSU student was inspired to take action during Senator Isakson’s visit. Daniel Shey, junior political science major and SGA senator, handed a two-page official recommendation on the limitations of terms for Senate bill S-1959 regarding Homegrown Terrorism.
“I think several things need to be limited (in the bill) to protect our civil liberties. I hope (Isakson) reads it and thinks about it because right now is the time when he can make changes to the bill before it passes,” Shey said.
Even though Senator Isakson’s visit was short, it seems to have made a positive impact with the GCSU students who attended. However, some wish that more GCSU students could have benefited from this rare visit from such an esteemed public official.
“I wish it would have been bigger (in student turnout), and I wish we could get students more active in politics because you don’t see a U.S. Senator at your college everyday,” Reeves said.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 25 2008. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry