The City Council Woman

[___ Eats It]

Is there any surprise that Tampa Catholic and other private schools have higher graduation rates than the general population in public schools?  Think about it, genuises (genii?)...

1.  People PAY out of their own pocket to send kids to private schools.

2.  Parents who are paying THOUSANDS a year are far, far, FAR more likely to whip a kid's ass if he's underperforming in a school that's costing them fortune.

3.  Parents of kids attending public schools who don't show up for quarterly conferences do so because they don't really care that much about the education of their kids.  To the majority of them, the public school system is a babysitting service for 7.5 hours a day, no more.

To compare the general populations and success rates of each type of school is ridiculous, because the inherent parental involvement due to fiscal investement in each is so drastically different.

2) My pay for performance was not based on student performance, it is based on teaching knowledge. i.e. - You should be payed for your knowledge of the subject you teach, which is why I support testing teachers regularly.

Actually, Rueben, they should be PAID, not "payed".  Did your attendance at Florida public schools cause you to lack basic 4th grade spelling skills, or was it some other state?

[E.T.]

These last three pages need to be moved to the Mad Cow. We're straying from the fact that Rose is a clueless tart .......

EXACTLY !!!

I started this here because she snubbed USF ... puhlease stay on the subject matter of the board people.

http://www.thebullspen.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=news;action=display;num=1137558750

[Guest guest]

Is there any surprise that Tampa Catholic and other private schools have higher graduation rates than the general population in public schools?  Think about it, genuises (genii?)...

1.  People PAY out of their own pocket to send kids to private schools.

2.  Parents who are paying THOUSANDS a year are far, far, FAR more likely to whip a kid's ass if he's underperforming in a school that's costing them fortune.

3.  Parents of kids attending public schools who don't show up for quarterly conferences do so because they don't really care that much about the education of their kids.  To the majority of them, the public school system is a babysitting service for 7.5 hours a day, no more.

To compare the general populations and success rates of each type of school is ridiculous, because the inherent parental involvement due to fiscal investement in each is so drastically different.

Actually, Rueben, they should be PAID, not "payed".  Did your attendance at Florida public schools cause you to lack basic 4th grade spelling skills, or was it some other state?

EI,

Good arguements but I believe the system is broken not the teachers. The discrepancy is huge and is not explained by the fact people use the public school system as babysitters. I'm sure many public school parents would be offended by that statement.

The US education system ranks 25th in the world. We are the wealthiest country in the world and our public school system ranks 25th. Behind countries such as Poland and Hungary. And we pay the most per student as a % of GDP than any other country. The system is inefficient.

As I said before, parts of Europe tie the money to the kids (ie voucher system) and they are scoring much higher and graduating a much higher percentage of their kids. I'm sure even the teachers will admit the system is broken. Bad teachers are paid as much as good ones and the bad ones are nearly impossible to get rid of due to the unions. There is no incentive to work hard (although most teachers work very hard and are underpaid)

If the system was geared toward teacher merit then the bad ones would be paid less or fired and the good ones would be paid more. This is how the world works. You should be paid on merit. Unfortunately this is not how the system works now.

[nukebull]

Guest

I lived in Germany for 3 years, the stats are a little skewed at the age of 13 or 14 students are given a path Vocational or Educational. This gives an inflated graguation rate because they weed out underperforming students and move them into the workforce. The kids have no choice. This use to be widespread all over Europe. This in turns gives them huge unemployment and a huge dependence on social services (the dole) as the English call it

[___ Eats It]

EI,

Good arguements but I believe the system is broken not the teachers.

I COMPLETELY agree, and this flies directly in the face of the "fire them all" or "test them yearly" arguments that are being thrown around regarding the teachers.

A majority of teachers in this state do the best they can with what little resources they have.  They battle poor pay, skewered standardization metrics, and parental apathy on a daily basis.  These are all consequences of a poorly designed system.

I'm with you that the system needs work.  I think the main objection that Bubbles and I had was with the broad generalization of Florida teachers as incompetent.  

By the way, in the current system, there's very little incentive for teachers to get their Masters degrees.  The pay for a teacher with a graduate degree is less than 3K per year over that of teacher without one.

You're exactly right about another problem.  The salaries are fixed by contract.  Thus, a teacher who has 95% of her class pass the standardized exams gets no more reward than one who only has 25% pass.  Again, there's no incentive for excellence.  The system IS broken, and most teachers (well, those who strive for excellence) will admit that.  Those who are just along for the ride and make as much as their high-performing peers probably see no problem with milking the public dollar.

Matt

[Triple B]

EXACTLY !!!

I started this here because she snubbed USF ... puhlease stay on the subject matter of the board people.

http://www.thebullspen.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=news;action=display;num=1137558750

Time for an email barrage to the mods in here to move these posts!!    

[Guest rueben_Horowitz]

Actually, Rueben, they should be PAID, not "payed".  Did your attendance at Florida public schools cause you to lack basic 4th grade spelling skills, or was it some other state?

Sorry Eat's it, you're right, it's PAID, not PAYED, and thank you for the english lesson, glad you were paying attention to detail. I am a product of the NY/OH public education systems since you asked. They need work too, don't confuse my complaints; this is a national problem.

It's just sad that there is no incentive to be a good teacher...don't blame me, the facts back my point. 55%, that's horrendous.

The End,

Rueben

[FazaUSF]

I'll agree that Ferlita should be more focused on the OBVIOUS home teams, and I'll also go so far as to say that City Council ought to have more important things to be worrying about than the subject of that newspaper article.

P.S. People like RHONDA STORMS shouldn't exist anymore - her views are arcane and her political rhetoric exemplifies distaste and ignorance. While we can blast Ferlita concerning supporting USF, Storms should by far be more heavily assaulted. Please don't let that woman have a future in politics, especially in our home town. I wouldn't even wish her presence on a third world country....

[Guest Ari Hinkelberger]

Future in Politics.?  we will let the crazy tax sensitive tampa suburbs determine her future in politics.

Ms. Storms is running for the Florida State Senate in District 10 -- which is mostly made up of Brandon.

I wouldn't vote for her, but plenty of crazy white blooded -- I hate taxes -- down with the liberals will.

[FazaUSF]

.

I wouldn't vote for her, but plenty of crazy white blooded -- I hate taxes -- down with the liberals will.

I would just think that the "crazy white-blooded -- 'I hate taxes' -- 'down with the liberals' -- types could find another candidate who isn't reactionary to the point where their philosophy would turn back the clock of social progress in our country instead of redirecting it.