Anyone want to stand up for Florida? (Jacksonville, Tampa: lawyers, homes)

[brasscitybluenwhite]

Connecticut Schools in the Top 1500 in US

I am in a good argument with people with Connecticut about how this list is flawed and that Florida schools do not deserve as many spots because Florida people are stupid. Please read each of the comments closely and let the people of Connecticut know that one does not have to spend a gazillion dollars on each pupil (like Connecticut does) in order to have a good school.


Just to give you some background about me...I'm from one of Connecticut's poorest cities and I'm just fighting for the kids in Gainesville and Jacksonville and other poor areas of Florida that made the list and I'm not gonna allow their high achievements to be nulled because arrogant folk in Connecticut think that "Florida people are stupid"

[personalensign79]

Hmmm no thanks, it sounds like you have some chip on your shoulder about certain areas of CT. At least that's how it looks at first glance of the posts. I don't think anyone there said Florida people are stupid.

[matchpoint]

You actually do have to spend money for education in order to have better schools. That's the way America is set up, basically. Property taxes support local public schools.

If Florida spends less per pupil then it's because retirees don't want their tax dollars to continue to fund local education anymore. They feel they've already done that back in NY, MA, OH or wherever they originally lived. They want their Florida tax dollars to go to roads, entertainment, whatever

The only public Florida high schools that garner any Florida press are the ones that perform well in sports and send students to big Div 1 colleges. That's not a Florida only issue, that's a nationwide issue. We seem to be privileging sports over everything else.

[annaegel]

We moved down here from NJ 4 years ago. My kids had 6 weeks left of kindergarten and 4th grade. Down here the school they were zoned for is an "A" rated, Blue Ribbon school. It is considered a very school. However, I immediately noticed a big difference in the quality of education. In NJ, they went to the average NJ school. Not considered a "top notch", but certainly not considered a bad school either. The differences I saw in NJ 3rd grade: my daughter had 20 difficult spelling words each week. Tampa gave 10 very easy words, not for learning vocabulary, but so that they can practice their scriptive that my daughter had learned the year before (teachers explanation). My daughter was use to 1 hour of homework a day. None given down here. She had asked the teacher for homework because she was bored. She told her to just go outside and play. She refused to give her homework. Because my 3rd grader did not take the FCAT, she had to take the modified FCAT. She failed miserably. There was talk of having her repeat 3rd grade. However, they decided to give her a test to see if she was on grade level. That test she did FABULOUS! They let her go to 4th grade. The principal's explanation was that she did not get the years training for the FCAT. NJ schools had foreign language starting in elementary, yoga/dance program, music program (nothing like what they have down here), wonderful art program, recess every day for 30 minutes. My daughter only had recess for 10 minutes only IF the teacher felt like it, once a week.

I have switched my kids to a very good charter school in Lutz. It has won the "A" rating for the 7th year in a row. She will be entering 8th grade and has gotten all A's last year and qualifies for AP math. I wonder though. If we were in NJ, would she be an average student in an average school? What qualifies someone to be an excellent student here in Florida, may not qualify someone an excellent student in NJ.

If you notice, the list of schools that are excellent in Florida are mostly "Gifted" or "IB" programs. Does that mean the average Joe, does not get to go to an excellent school? Look at Hillsborough high school. It was rated topnotch. However, it was for the IB program, not the regular part of the school. I have heard that the regular part of the school is not that good. You take away the IB program, you take away the school from that list.

[Aconite]

Originally Posted by matchpoint

You actually do have to spend money for education in order to have better schools.

To a point. OTOH, if I can homeschool two kids (both gifted, one multiple exceptionalities) on a budget of $1500 a year, and with greater success than the local school system, it seems unreasonable that they should require roughly $20,000 to accomplish less.
Of course, I don't keep three lawyers, overpaid administrators, and several "itinerant principals" (wtf?) on staff, either.
There are bright spots in our abysmal county school system, but the bloated budget is certainly not one of them.

[Aconite]

Originally Posted by annaegel

If you notice, the list of schools that are excellent in Florida are mostly "Gifted" or "IB" programs. Does that mean the average Joe, does not get to go to an excellent school? Look at Hillsborough high school. It was rated topnotch. However, it was for the IB program, not the regular part of the school. I have heard that the regular part of the school is not that good. You take away the IB program, you take away the school from that list.

Yeah-- in Pinellas, CAT and PCCA are great programs, but Lakewood High itself....not so much. And Gibbs is now officially rated an F school. Pinellas locates magnets in crappy schools in hopes of bringing up the status of the school, but clearly, it's not working out that way.

The only highly ranked programs accessible to the average kid are the fundamental schools. Those are popular, and they work-- but they work partly because they can throw out the deadwood. Your average behavior problemed, lazy-butt bully isn't likely to have parents who can commit to a fundamental agreement.

[seain dublin]

The truth hurts. It just came out that FL is number 45 out of the 50 states for students completing high school.

The FCAT standards per Frances Haithcock, the state's chancellor of education for pre-K through 12 will be lowered again as students are failing.

FL does not have the education that you will find in other states. The problem here is people like the OP don't want to address that issue.

They would rather play the us vs. them game.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by brasscitybluenwhite

Connecticut Schools in the Top 1500 in US

I am in a good argument with people with Connecticut about how this list is flawed and that Florida schools do not deserve as many spots because Florida people are stupid. Please read each of the comments closely and let the people of Connecticut know that one does not have to spend a gazillion dollars on each pupil (like Connecticut does) in order to have a good school.


Just to give you some background about me...I'm from one of Connecticut's poorest cities and I'm just fighting for the kids in Gainesville and Jacksonville and other poor areas of Florida that made the list and I'm not gonna allow their high achievements to be nulled because arrogant folk in Connecticut think that "Florida people are stupid"

Please show me exactly where someone said in the CT forum "FL people are stupid."

I guess we can let this "debate" rest, since it's quite obvious Floridians know their cons, just like we in CT know ours. First, we told ya, and you got your undies in a twist. Now they told ya. Are you going to argue with them too?

Originally Posted by seain dublin

The truth hurts. It just came out that FL is number 45 out of the 50 states for students completing high school.

The FCAT standards per Frances Haithcock, the state's chancellor of education for pre-K through 12 will be lowered again as students are failing.

FL does not have the education that you will find in other states. The problem here is people like the OP don't want to address that issue.

They would rather play the us vs. them game.

Exactly. People in CT were not bashing FL. In fact, many people (like myself) considered moving down to your beautiful state but were not impressed with the public education. It's unfortunate that some people like brasscity turn this issue into a race and class issue.

I'm not surprised this user brought it to the FL forum. This has been done by him before.

[seain dublin]

Kidyankee, many in FL take any comment addressing the issues here as personal insult. They defend it to the death, even when the facts show that FL lags behind most states in education.

This is a very reactive state. For example they just finally passed a seatbelt law here. It is a weekly occurance in the Tampa area which has some of the most horrific crashes you can imagine, and most of the times not wearing seatbelts.

TB leads the nation in deadly teen crashes yet they will not raise the driving age here(you can get a permit at 15 and full DL at 16).

IMO, things don't improve down here(including the schools) because many are overly sensititive about Florida's shortcomings and backwards ways.

Easier to take a defensive stance than address the issues at hand. The OP proved that.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by personalensign79

Hmmm no thanks, it sounds like you have some chip on your shoulder about certain areas of CT. At least that's how it looks at first glance of the posts. I don't think anyone there said Florida people are stupid.

Again, I say "exactly". +1 for you.