7 Responses to “Santa Rosa Cuts 7th Period, Teachers”

1. Glenn on May 26th, 2011 11:53 am

   This country is headed in the wrong direction as far as education is concerned. The powers to be have decided that everyone will become a rocket scientist someday if we only teach them to pass an exit exam (FCAT). INSANE!

   I have been an educator in the public school system for over 30 years and it is getting more and more frustrating trying to teach students who just want to learn a trade. Now the state is requiring what THEY call inclusion so students with special needs will be placed in regular classes. WOW! WHAT A IDIOTIC IDEA.

   When I visited several European countries I learned that they have it figured out.
   In France students are tested by the 7th year and then placed in the correct track for their skill level. Other countries do the same thing. IN THE WORDS OF HOYT DUH!

   A LITTLE COMMON SENSE IN EDUCATION IS WHAT WE NEED

2. The DOER on May 26th, 2011 11:22 am

   Just thought I’d add this:
   I know of about 10 recent college graduates, 2 of them with master’s degrees. They could not find jobs. Know what they did? They went to a plumbing certification or computer certification school (less than 2 year’s worth of hands-on). All 10 of these people have recently acquired jobs in their skilled fields, not their college-choice fields, and they’re making very good money. College is a wonderful thing; don’t get me wrong. But we need people who know how to fix air conditioners, people who can repair plumbing. So many degrees are not connected with ways to make a living anymore. And BTW, the University of Alabama’s summer tuition: one 3-hour semester course is $365 per credit hour. That means that one class is over $1200.00! You do the math. If a 4-year degree requires 120 semester hours, a kid is looking at around $45,000 in tuitition alone! We need to encourage kids that these skills are necessary, and these jobs are too! And I would love to see our schools prepare kids for these jobs as well.

3. whitepunknotondope on May 26th, 2011 9:30 am

   DOER: I not only agree with you but I know that you are right.

   HOWEVER! There are far more parents who are influenced by their upbringing or the media:

   1. Routine online lists of the most “lucrative” jobs. I can tell you none of these are in music or the arts. So what’s a “responsible” parent to do? Discourage their kid from being interested in these choices.

   2. Constant bombardment by the media (and the POTUS) about how our children have to grow up to be “highly competitive in a global marketplace”. This strikes fear into the hearts of many parents, and the result is elimination of anything that doesn’t relate to math, engineering or science.

   3. Constant fear mongering about how a Bachelor’s degree is now REQUIRED to have any success in life, despite the FACT that such a (often useless and unarguably overpriced) degree saddles a student with twenty years worth of debt.

   I am a supporter of arts and music but parents in these times are being methodically conditioned to shun such “frivolous” pursuits and focus on college degrees so their children can grow up and get the high paying jobs.

   Entrepreneurship, self-made success, and creativity may as well not exist for the majority of parents anymore.

4. MQ on May 26th, 2011 9:13 am

   I agree with needing skills for the ones who can’t or don’t want to attend college. I am originally from New England, and graduated in ‘71. There were two choices business or college courses. The college ones prepared you for college, and the business was for “dummies”. I really liked and enjoyed business, but was made to take college courses, which I couldn’t pass – especially the math ones! I graduated without enough credits in either course, and the “dummies” in business were geting jobs without any trouble!!! And we had many hands on training classes; like shop, electrical, etc. NOT everyone is made to go to college or wants to, They could have made me triple or quaduple my math classes, and the results on an fcat or report card would have had the same results!!!

5. 429SCJ on May 26th, 2011 8:30 am

   Doer I salute your efforts to secure your childrens future. This nation once had a great educational system. It is no accident our nation’s ox cart is on the road to hell, it is being guided by a cabal with a self serving agenda that began way back in the garden.

6. just sayin on May 26th, 2011 7:10 am

   I agree with THE DOER. School’s worry to much about F-CAT and having the perfect students. that is why I choose to homeschool. My kids are getting the education they need without all the politics, crime and bs they put up with in public school. As far as intereaction with other children, we have that and probably more than what the public school system allows. Kids need breaks and time to socalliaze with friends but I have found the children get less and less time to interact unless you are sitting in a class room. then they come home with 2 an 3 hrs worth of homework. what is up with that? Oh yeah, can’t teach in school got to learn the F-CAT. I don’t blame the teachers because there are alot of good ones out there, they are just trying to do their job but state regulations will not allow it.

7. THE DOER on May 26th, 2011 6:02 am

   People do not realize what is going on in education. So many are quick to say, “Let’s eliminate these teachers and those positions, etc.” “We don’t need this class or that one.” As an educator with over 20 years of experience, here is what I see. We are trying to make every kid into a college graduate, and if the kid can’t perform what the state deems as necessary on the FCAT, then guess what we do? We take away any elective that the kid might enjoy or actually have skills in, and we require a double-block reading course, or an intensive math course. It is NOT working. Of course, we have to have standards. That’s certain. But what is wrong with starting a kid in an electrical program or a graphics program or a music program, beginning in 6th grade, and allowing the kid to truly develop those skills. Skills that would probably encourage this kid into that field as a way to make a living.

   We say, “Oh, now we have those academies at Ernest Ward and Northview.” This is true, but what people don’t realize is that the kid is pretty much out of those programs if he/she does not perform well on the FCAT. Why? Because those scores dictate what the kid can take the next year. I have never, ever seen so much unspoken depression among high schoolers as I have seen it this year, and as much as I have heard adults trying to encourage these kids about future outlooks and jobs, they’re not buying it. We need to get these kids educated in SKILLS that will allow them to make a living — not just satisfy the state with double-block this and that, in order to pass the FCAT.

   I love our area, and I think both Escambia and Santa Rosa counties have some of the finest administrators, teachers, and superintendents around, but we really do need to revamp our way of thinking about what is important.