According to a recent letter to the Times Union she thinks all our kids “must be prepared for global competition.” And she believes we must empower “…all students with the prerequisites to be successful in postsecondary education…”
Mrs. Burney likes to throw around buzz words and phrases like transformational, global competition and postsecondary education and where she might think that makes her sound smart, the reality is it makes her appear clueless.
Not all our kids are going to go to college, especially right after the graduate and we should be both okay with that and help prepare them to be productive citizens. We should offer vocational, arts and skill programs to help them meet their needs so they can get decent jobs.
As for competing in a global economy, to be honest I am not really sure what that means but our school system first needs to prepare our kids to be able to compete for jobs here in Jacksonville and then to stop graduating kids ill prepared for anything. Local businesses report not being able to find good applicants from the pool of recent graduates and other businesses don’t want to relocate here because of our school system which diminishes the job market.
I would love for all our kids to go to college and get high paying jobs but that doesn’t reflect the reality of what’s going on in our schools. That doesn’t mean we give up, it means we make our plans based on what we have not what we wish we had.
Mrs. Burney has confused flowery rhetoric for a plan and leadership and I for one don’t think we need to give her years, 9, 10, 11 and 12 before we realize there is a big difference.
Sir, I am sorry to inform you but Betty Burney is going back to the Duval County School Board. I am really sick of your draconian messages in the message boards on jacksonville.com, etc. You find wrong in everything but yet you have offered no "real" solutions. And I pray you aren't writing these things on school time.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteA couple things, first I don’t think you are using the word Draconian correctly and I wouldn’t give the election to her straight out just yet. I plan to campaign very hard and where I might not win I will at least start a conversation. Many of us feel our school system is and has been going in the wrong direction.
If you honestly think DCPS is better now than it was eight years ago, vote for Burney, but if you don’t think we are or aren’t sure spend a few minutes checking out the blog it will open your eyes and I beg to differ but the blog is also full of solutions and ideas many of which don’t cost anything which would lead to a quick turnaround.
One last thing, what you should really be sick of is the district graduating kids ill prepared for anything and its shoddy treatment of teachers. I know I am.
ReplyDeleteChris, I did not misuse the word "Draconian." Reading your messages sometimes should be labeled as "unusually severe or cruel." I believe that is the right definition for the word.
ReplyDeleteSee when kids futures are at stake I don't think I am being unusaly hard or cruel but never-the-less, do you think are schools are doing better than they were 8 years ago?
ReplyDelete