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Blogs by Pamela Ackerson
Schools, Incompetant Teachers, and the FCAT 8/22/2007 9:05:12 AM
A letter sent to our officials and the school system Re: Schools, Incompetent Teachers, and the FCAT
Due to new "legislature" and the Peter Principle, it appears that students who did not do well on their FCAT reading tests are expected to take 3 hours of reading every day at their respective schools. No sir, I am not exaggerating. My daughter received below level on her FCAT reading and now, according to her high school councilor, must take 3 hours of reading classes every day. A little overboard there, don't you think? What a waste.
It appears that this new law for the school systems has again failed the students. It has shown the student that it is no longer required to receive good grades in school. Who cares if they pass their classes? They are unnecessary. Just pass the FCAT and the student can move forward. That is all that matters. Students no longer have to pass their classes if they pass the FCAT. Obviously, this is a true statement because my daughter did pass her classes, yet she has to retake two of them.
The schools no longer have control of their students even when the student has done very well on all their other English/reading tests and grades; 3 hours of reading everyday. When will my daughter receive an education? Obviously, according to the new FCAT rules, she does not need one. All she has to do is pass the FCAT.
So tell me, when will she actually have real classes and receive a real education? Is Florida intentionally failing their students so they can receive more funding for lame classes like remedial reading for students who do not need it?
No student left behind? Nice little saying unfortunately it is a big farcical joke, trailed by blatant lies to parents and students. The students are being pushed backwards, pushed backwards by an incompetent system and incompetent teachers who sit around getting paid to watch students read instead of actually teaching them and giving them an education. At this rate of education, with 3 hours of reading everyday, the students are going to be so far behind that Florida will again be ridiculed and harassed for our stupidity. There will be no time for the student to receive an education. When, in the school day, will there be time to have other necessary classes when they are too busy retaking classes they have already passed?
My daughter’s class schedule is enough to give a parent multiple nightmares. She is registered for two FCT reading classes and no English class. She has no classes that go toward college entrance requirements or that can be used toward graduation. There is no need for my daughter to take two reading classes and no English class. Astronaut and Florida is intentionally causing my daughter to NOT be promoted and graduate when she is supposed to. How is she supposed to receive credits with no classes that give credits toward graduation? How is she supposed to move onto college without the necessary required classes for college acceptance?
Why did my daughter, as well as many others, take the FCAT math and pass it, be required to go to summer school for FCAT Math, pass it again, and have to do it a third time this semester? We were told she could not continue to the 10th grade without the class yet she has to take it again anyway. This will be the third time she takes FCAT math even though she passed the classes. Does that mean that the teacher and class she took during the summer was a blatant waste of time? Yes, obviously it was. Two different math teacher, good grades, and the students still have to repeat the classes. We are dealing with incompetence, people who are not qualified to teach my daughter and should not have been administering to students who needed an education. I think the principal, assistant principal and several English, Reading, and Math teachers need to be terminated now before they destroy the education of the students they supposedly are helping. They are helping them, helping them to stand in the welfare line because they did not receive the proper education to succeed.
Is the school intentionally trying to squash my daughter down? Are you intentionally trying to force her to fail? We shall push the students backwards, not give them an education and then we can have a bunch of losers dropping out of high school. That is what Florida is accomplishing. Destruction of the education system in the state, destruction of the lives of teenagers who will be unprepared for a successful life, and pushing down students, causing them to fail intentionally.
What I see in my daughter’s schedule, regardless of how well she does in her previous classes, the natural conclusion would be that she does not need to get good grades. She does not need to do the work assigned to her because it will not matter. As long as she passes the FCAT, there is no reason for her to strive to achieve success. There is absolutely no reason for her to strive to get good grades because Astronaut is going to fail her anyway. As long as she attends the class, she does not have to do the work. Next year the school will find some other lame class to give her. That way she can be one of the losers who drop out of high school.
So, let me ask you, why my daughter? Why has the school decided that my daughter is going to be a loser? Why? Why would a school do that? Why would a school intentionally force a student down?
When I saw my daughter’s schedule, I contacted the school immediately and did not receive a positive response. The school system wants to push her backwards. They insist they are doing what the state requires them to do and cannot do anything else. Therefore, she must keep the assigned classes. That informs me with no uncertain terms that Astronaut High School and Florida is intentionally pushing students backwards, holding them back, forcing them backwards, and refusing to give their students the proper education to move forward and attend college.
