Tampa Voted One Of The Worst Places To Raise Kids (Miami: sex offender, crimes)

[Aconite]

Originally Posted by Mike Peterson

Another skewed ranking. What does a school hundreds of miles away in the same state have to do with the school my kids go to?

Besides the fact that Florida is not at the bottom over the last few years in rankings that are done by educators and not magazines.

There are also I believe 9 Florida H.S.'s in the top 100 rankings, 3 of those in the top 11. That would be the top 100 in the nation.

Of course, you yourself asked "What does a school hundreds of miles away in the same state have to do with the school my kids go to?" If you're in St Petersburg, who cares if there are nationally ranked high schools in Jacksonville? Gibbs High is still an F school.

[algia]

Maybe we should have more billboards offering birth control pills for free, that way maybe we would stop teens from having kids while still in school and others who are uneducated enough to know that they "don't have to have kids" at all! rather than have them and then sit "comfy" on welfare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We could definitely use that money spend on people who can work JUST FINE on education!

There are really too many parasites in Florida....

[vaughanwilliams]

Originally Posted by JeepGirl118

It does become the parent's fault when the kid is ranking toward the bottom of a bottom ranking school, however. With option to work with tutors, taking the time for your kid to work with them, staying after school to work with teachers or peer study groups, etc. - the weight of that responsibility falls on the parent's shoulders to step in and take care of those arrangements. My son graduated one year early from High School last year. A parent's intervention, participation and guidance is crucial to a child's success. Any parent who says that its insulting, false and simplistic. . well, let's just say that speaks for itself.

Using your logic and seain dublin's figure of a 57% graduation rate, that means 43% of the parents of high school seniors in Florida must be at fault for their child's failure. That's an incredible amount (several hundred thousand?) of "bad" parents. We have high schools in my part of the Bay Area that are so crummy that I'm amazed ANYONE graduates, while the pristine new schools in the North county gated communities have a very good graduation rate. Are the gated community parents "good" parents while the parents of kids in schools with a high dropout rate "bad", or is money and politics more of a reason while some schools fail? Are the parents in more successful states "better"? It's real easy to take credit for your child's success and to blame another child's failure on his parents. Are some parents to blame? You bet! But there are many, many reasons why education is such a disgrace in Florida.
By the way, both my kids graduated from Florida high schools and neither one has any intention of sending their children to one.
I'm not sure what your last sentence meant, but I'm guessing it was suppose to be an insult or a personal attack on my character. What ever.

[algia]

vaughnwilliams:
Have you seen WHAT the High School students here wear to school? and how that girl at the Sickles High school went to school WITHOUT UNDERWEAR! She got caught, but God knows how many don't get caught! THAT is NOT THE SCHOOL'S FAULT!

Look, it doesn't take ANY MONEY to teach a child what is appropriate and what's not, or good manners!!!!!....or to be part of their day and help out with homework.....the people we are referring to are probably uneducated THEMSELVES, and you know what? in THAT case, there is ALWAYS Google! so, THEY should use it to help their kids....I bet there isn't a kid in any school in Tampa that doesn't know what Google is!

[JeepGirl118]

Originally Posted by vaughnwilliams

Using your logic and seain dublin's figure of a 57% graduation rate, that means 43% of the parents of high school seniors in Florida must be at fault for their child's failure. That's an incredible amount (several hundred thousand?) of "bad" parents. We have high schools in my part of the Bay Area that are so crummy that I'm amazed ANYONE graduates, while the pristine new schools in the North county gated communities have a very good graduation rate. Are the gated community parents "good" parents while the parents of kids in schools with a high dropout rate "bad", or is money and politics more of a reason while some schools fail? Are the parents in more successful states "better"? It's real easy to take credit for your child's success and to blame another child's failure on his parents. Are some parents to blame? You bet! But there are many, many reasons why education is such a disgrace in Florida.
By the way, both my kids graduated from Florida high schools and neither one has any intention of sending their children to one.
I'm not sure what your last sentence meant, but I'm guessing it was suppose to be an insult or a personal attack on my character. What ever.

Trust me, when I am snarky, you will know.

Ok. . stats. . lol. . good ole inaccurate percentages. . ok, let's talk about some "stats."

'Dropouts rates are a confusing mishmash of data. Studies differ on what graduation means. One study done by the U.S. Department of Education found that dropout rates had declined, mostly steadily, from 14.6% in 1972 to 9.3% in 2006. Another department study found that only about 74% of the nation's students graduated on time."
The High School Dropout's Economic Ripple Effect - WSJ.com

All I saw above in your post was a rant and my eyes are bleeding. So let me just say this. . .at the top of EVERY "bottom" school, there is a load of students (lets say the top 75% of the graduating class) who performed either in excellence or at an average in their GPA's. Those kids kept themselves together at a satisfactory rate - and most likely, their home was educationally sound and structured with parent's who were 'there for them.' How is the school responsible for failing the bottom 25% and the dropouts?

Perhaps those kids are cutting school/classes. Too busy passing notes or daydreaming or coming to class high. School systems have their detention/suspension/expulsion system in place. Parent's are alerted and notified by the school for troubles. . what are the parents doing from home about it to enable behavior modification when the school has given the class-cutter his 15th detention and 2nd suspension?!

The bottom 25% (and the dropouts, before they became dropouts) have the same access to ask for help from the teachers and other peers who may be more knowing in subjects. Those kids are left on auto-pilot. Parent's can step in. . . well, if they were paying attention, that is.

[seain dublin]

I have been told by people who attended HS in Florida who don't know each other that problem students are encouraged to dropout and get a GED.

They do this to get higher FCAT scores for the school district. Having students learn isn't the goal here, getting rid of students who have issues out of the school is.

What you end up with here is 29 yr old dummies who dropped out of HS, didn't go to college and have no job skills.

I have never seen so many unskilled labor jobs as there are here. The lawncutters, the pool cleaners are for the most part all white Fl born young men in their 20s.

Coming here from Southern CA you don't see anybody fitting that description cleaning pools and cutting lawns. There the people doing those jobs are not American born.

Here you see people who could and should be doing better than they are, yet they're doing jobs that in other states are done by immigrant workers.

Says a lot about the lack of education here.

[Trusses]

^^^You got a problem with white native Floridians it seems. Do you have more education than I have? My wife has? Almost all my cousins were born and raised in FL and almost everyone has atleast a 4 yr degree.

[TXRyan23]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

To me this part is non sense! Just take the latest case of kidnapping that made head lines and happened 18 years ago "Jaycee Lee Dugard"...didn't happen in Fl.

Casey Anthony case is a sick mom who probably killed her own child...Haley Cummings, well it seems the step mother might be involved...

How many kidnapping were there over here that made the percentage go up so high? maybe you can show proof.

Most people know that no where you can leave you kids play outside without anybody watching, that isn't anything special here...

I know CA and Fl. have the highest rates of sex offenders and home less people due to the nice weather. Sex offenders move here because many can't get a job anymore and loose everything (which I don't mind, since they should stay off our children) and than rather live outside in Fl than in NY when it is getting cold...

Some people have stated that in some places it is still safe to let their kids play outside...you hear it all the time when a child is missing and found dead..."this never happened over here"...very very sad, the world isn't safe anymore for kids to go out and play by them self.


To the person who is stating that parents shouldn't be to blame because of the bad schools...that is so naive! Why are many great students coming from FL school and others just fail. You can't say all school are bad or all parents are bad, or all kids...but parents who rather sit on the couch or hang out with their friends (often because they got kids at such a young age that they feel they missed something) instead of checking if their kids had home work, or supoort them to do better...well that is the parents fault and not the school!

I'm sorry we don't share opinions. I lived there for 17 years (give or take) and went to school in Hillsborough Schools until I was a senior. I will never submit my children to the same struggles I had. The crime and everything else I could probably deal with but the education in Florida sucks.

fwiw, I can let my son play outside without having to keep a constant eye on him here in Middle TN. I would prefer to live somewhere in the upper mid-west though because of the more "family-oriented" atmosphere.

[TXRyan23]

Originally Posted by Trusses

^^^You got a problem with white native Floridians it seems. Do you have more education than I have? My wife has? Almost all my cousins were born and raised in FL and almost everyone has atleast a 4 yr degree.

In my experiences, Most native Floridians I've known weren't well-off by any means and only "made it" by leaving the state.

I do agree with dublin though, most native Floridians only have a H.S. diploma or less and in the FL job market, a H.S. diploma will only get you so much in reguards to work.

[JeepGirl118]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

Coming here from Southern CA you don't see anybody fitting that description cleaning pools and cutting lawns. There the people doing those jobs are not American born.

Have to disagree on this one.

I own a residential service provider. In the service industry, its not been about who is the most uneducated that can get the job done, it's been about who can get the job done for LESS. Who had made it that way? American households that employ said services.

Many homes now request - and I quote, "American workers only." I employ 100% American workers and pay them quite well. I do background checks on all of my applicants and do not have any employed with me currently without a High School education. In fact, I have one with her Bachelor's degree working for me for $14/hr - doing a job that you would consider to be an "illegal's job."

I am not the only service that makes a practice of this. It started spreading like wildfire about 4 years ago when I was living back in Scottsdale/Fountain Hills, AZ when Sheriff Joe Arpaio went on a manhunt for illegal aliens to take them into custody. Rightfully so, the jobs belong to the legals. I go to enough client homes to see who their landscapers and pool guys are. . . I am not seeing a decrease in "American workers," in fact, there is a huge increase.

Has nothing to do with "education." Legally speaking, there is more behind it than you are obviously aware. So, seriously, do not even drag this topic of education into home service providers being quite so ignorant about it with your stereotypes and racism.