Re-enforcement of Diplomacy Act [Passed]

[Verily]

Re-enforcement of Diplomacy Act

Section 1: Upgrading the Department of External Affairs

1. The government shall double the current money given to the Dept. of External Affairs.

2. This money may only be used to build and maintain embassies in amicable nations, hire diplomats, and run language classes for government officials.

Section 2: Upgrading Public Understanding

1. Foreign Language shall now be considered a major class in High School, equal in importance to Math, Social Studies, Science, and English. All requirements for the latter four shall now be applied to Foreign Language.

2. Students may choose the language of their choice form those able to be offered by the school.

(Sponsor: Speed of Sound)

[Jake]

Not interested in dictating terms of education to local school boards. I'll be voting nay on anything resembling Section Two.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I encourage Senators to support this Bill.

[Sensei]

Re-enforcement of Diplomacy Act

Section 1: Upgrading the Department of External Affairs

1. The government shall double the current money given to the Dept. of External Affairs.

2. This money may only be used to build and maintain embassies in amicable nations, hire diplomats, and run language classes for government officials.

Section 2: Upgrading Public Understanding

1. Foreign Language shall now be considered a major class in High School, equal in importance to Math, Social Studies, Science, and English. All requirements for the latter four shall now be applied to Foreign Language.

2. Students may choose the language of their choice from those able to be offered by the school.

(Sponsor: Speed of Sound)

just that small amendment. Good bill. I'm voting aye.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I think we need to strike "All requirements for the latter four shall now be applied to Foreign Language," because there is no standard requirement for the latter four.

Truth be told, though, merely learning a foreign language does very little to further understanding of other countries.  Most of the (admirable) goal, I think, should be put into the history/social sciences curriculum.

[Verily]

I think we need to strike "All requirements for the latter four shall now be applied to Foreign Language," because there is no standard requirement for the latter four.

Incidentally, do you think it would be within the power of the federal government to define a standard core curriculum for all public schools?

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Agreed, particularly world history, which should be emphasized in favor of American/Atlasian history.

[Ebowed]

A better method would be to restructure the Dept. of External Affairs funding method so that the Senate can allocate funds.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I think we need to strike "All requirements for the latter four shall now be applied to Foreign Language," because there is no standard requirement for the latter four.

Incidentally, do you think it would be within the power of the federal government to define a standard core curriculum for all public schools?

I think the federal government has the ability to craft some very basic guidelines as to what students should learn.

I think the regional government and local schools should have the ability to decide how the students learn those core requirements.  It should also be up to the regions to create a metric to determine how well students are meeting those requirements.

[Ebowed]

Also I don't think it should be mandatory to have to take a foreign language.

I would have no problem making it mandatory for schools to offer it.

[Verily]

I'd like to propose an amendment to strike Section 2, not because I necessarily disagree with it, but because I feel it can be dealt with more fully by the School Standards Reform Bill I currently have in the queue, and it is more relevant there (though there certainly is some degree of relevance here).

[Speed of Sound]

Ill support Verily's amendment for now, only to pass this bill, but I intend to keep up the fight in a later education bill to re-inforce foreign language. I find it to be quite important both to cultural advancement as well as general learning skills.

[Sensei]

I could definitely go for the Verily amendment just to get this passed.

[Verily]

The friendly amendment has passed. If there is no further debate, I will open the final vote in twenty-four hours.

[Verily]

Well, this is more than twenty-four hours. Sorry for my absenteeism this weekend. I've been traveling some. Anyway, I motion for a final vote on this legislation.


We are now voting on the final passage of the following legislation. Please vote Aye, Nay or Abstain.


Re-enforcement of Diplomacy Act

Section 1: Upgrading the Department of External Affairs

1. The government shall double the current money given to the Dept. of External Affairs.

2. This money may only be used to build and maintain embassies in amicable nations, hire diplomats, and run language classes for government officials.


Aye

[Sam Spade]

Yep.

[Jake]

aye

[Speed of Sound]

Aye

[Sensei]

yes

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Aye.

[afleitch]

Aye

[Ebowed]

Aye

[Verily]

With eight in favor, this legislation has enough votes to pass. Senators have twenty-four hours to change their votes.

[Bacon King]

aye ftr

[Verily]

Result on Final Passage
Aye: 9 (Verily; Sam Spade; Jake; Speed of Sound; Sensei; Moderate; Afleitch; Ebowed; Bacon King)
Nay: 0
Abstain [Didn't vote]: 1 (Friz)

With nine in favor, this legislation has passed and is presented to the President for his signature.

[Colin]

X Colin Wixted