Education

While not getting a heck of a lot of press, unless you were actually looking for it, Florida’s “Evolution Academic Freedom Act,” has been percolating just under the surface.  I came across an article @ it this morning in the Orlando Sentinel that points out a couple of problems with the concept.

The act was approved 7-3 by the Fl. Senate Judiciary Committee & will go to the full chamber for consideration.  No date has been set yet.  The reason for this, & I’ll quote reporter Linda Kleindienst here, is so that, “Florida teachers could mention religious theories about human origins, such as creationism & intelligent design, without fearing retribution under a measure that passed a key Senate committee Tuesday.”  And within that statement are the problems.

Okay, you asked for it, Solo, but I'm starting my own blog entry so as not to feel guilty for standing on the soap box in yours. You posed the question about schools, and I’m going to try to reply as calmly as possible without whining or curling into a fetal position.

My background: I have taught 6th graders through adults, ESOL to gifted,  in both Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale) and North Florida. I took a pay cut and left the public high school system a few years back. This was strictly a quality of life decision. I like teaching and interacting with my students constructively, and I hate mountains of paperwork and rigidly timed schedules.

I need to enlist the help of my fellow bloggers on a subject I’ve touched upon before.  That is the status of education in America & here in Florida.  I’ve been coming across an increasing number of stories in the news realm lately, but I’ll focus on three. One was a story in the Feb. 25, 2008 issue of Time magazine, the second an article by Susan Jacoby, who has a book out, in the Washington Post on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 titled, “The Dumbing of America,” and an article in the Miami Herald, posted on Sun., Feb. 17, 2008 by Carl Hiaasen titled, “Our reputation for flakiness is at stake.”

I guess this could be put under education. A learning experience.

I took my computer to a repair shop, it had crashed.

I was told that the motherboard was bad. I was planning on upgrading the unit anyway. I told the repair facility to install a new motherboard and upgrade the memory.

I got it back and ran it. There was no "d" partition just the "c" drive. All the window and money programs that came with the computer were gone. I ask the tech why he erased the drive. He said that they do that just incase there was a virius on it. And most of you know that you do not get a disk with all the programs on it when you buy a computer although you pay for the programs in the price of the computer.

A story & a letter to the editor in the TU today, Thursday, Dec. 6 had the unfortunate effect of getting a few of my grey cells moving.  The story was one by Deirdre Conner of the TU concerning the continuing battle of evolution in schools.  (Don’t ask me why the battle is still on)  It tells of an ousted educator who was chosen to be the new K-12 chancellor of education (why a person like this was picked in the first place is beyond me) who happened to be a creationist.  There were worries that his influence would try to “water down the teaching of evolution.”  I think this a fair concern.  In 2005, the story goes, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute gave Florida an F grade in science education. (A bit about that later) The good news is that grades were improved & science was vindicated.

So many folks have focused so intensely on the Board of County Commissioners that lost in the shuffle is the Clay County School Board.

The School Board meets Tuesday, Nov. 20th at 7 p.m. in the Fleming Island High School In-Service Teacher's conference room. (The Taj Mahal of County meeting places.)

School Board Attorney Bruce Bickner is up for a new 3-year contract at $145,000 per year. His wife is earning $36,000 as his assistant and the School Board is set to approve another paralegal at $36,000 per year. The School Board Attorney is entitled to all rights and benefits of any School Board employee.

I'm curious bloggers about what this community considers "Quality of Life" issues and where on the scale Clay County ranks in addressing these Quality of Life issues.

For example, let's say I believe Roads are a quality of life issue and I rank the County at a 2 in adressing this issue, this would go a long way in giving our public officials an idea where we think they stand. Perhaps it would create some conversation and empathy for what residents want but don't perceive is being delivered.

Here's a first swipe (1-10 with 10 being highest):

Public Safety - 9 (I feel safe in Clay County)

You laugh at this  expression whenever you hear it on TV comedies and even more when it is accompanied with the "talk to the hand" gesture. Your kids say it to you every time you argue with them and even you say it to your husband whenever he is getting on your nerves. Whatever the situation, the"whatever" word keeps a lot of other words from being pronounced allowing a quick escape  from keeping a non desired conversation with whoever! A great feeling of freedom and indifference are attached to this little word and sometimes it brings a premature and abrupted end to a conversation that might be necessary to continue. A lot of words remain floating in the air and, in some cases, a lot of anger is kept inside instead of being converted into words in order to resolve an issue.