School Budget Cuts

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blow Bleeding on the Floor Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 1137	July 11th, 2008 at 03:58pm KingRex: Wow you're lucky. My teacher is nicknamed Sid cause he looks strikingly like the sloth in Ice Age, and talks at half normal speed and in a droning mono-tone voice. I know it sounds like a stereotypical boring teacher but its true. We studied world religions for about five days in Freshman Global Studies. Hardly any time for people to realize anything worth while about other religions, much less there own. Its more so kids get ingrained in the names of belief systems and a one sentence definition of them. Which isn't even helpful at times, such as in the case of Hinduism, which actually is not Poly-theistic. I feel lucky, compared to what other people have described in this thread. I have boring teacher too though, specifically my chemistry teacher, I didn't learn anything in that class. We even read Siddhartha. Really I thought Hinduism was, for the most part, polytheistic?
blow Bleeding on the Floor Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 1137	July 11th, 2008 at 03:58pm dp.
IceHog69 Bulletproof Heart Age: 31 Gender: - Posts: 25232	July 12th, 2008 at 06:20am At my school, the price of music lessons has gone up. You also get made to feel bad if you can't afford an instrument, and have to borrow one. They are free, but they like you to have your own. The headphones they give you don't work half the time, and there aren't enough computers for everyone to have a sibalius compatable one. Art gets almost everything. They never run out of pens or paint or paper or anythign really. ICT gets completly forgotton. Most of the computers don't have mouse balls, and in Room A (basically a computer room for languages lessons) the headphones are all chewed up, and the keyboards are missing keys. PE used to get loads of support, but now they can't afford to fix the ropes and Coca-Cola for some reason stopped sponsering our gym... (I don't know why they were before, but they stopped...) I think schools need all the money they can get, because it is the kids that go there that will one day run the world, and it is basically the safest investment in their future. (I go to the best school within sort of half an hours drive.)
questionable content Always Born a Crime Age: 28 Gender: Female Posts: 5604	July 12th, 2008 at 12:26pm My school has one of the lowest per-student budgets in the state, but it's one of the best schools in the area. I think a big part of it is how the money is used, and I agree with you, Claudes. "I think schools need all the money they can get, because it is the kids that go there that will one day run the world, and it is basically the safest investment in their future."
thank fsm. In The Murder Scene Age: 36 Gender: Female Posts: 20564	July 12th, 2008 at 04:42pm I was thinking bout the budget cuts in my school district. They are planning to cut the arts programs in the entire district due to lack of funding. Obviously the basic academics cannot be cut. There's a reason they are required. I am a full supporter of all of the arts because I would definitely prefer an educated, creative society rather than just physical effort getting us everywhere (yes, of course we need a balance but you get what I mean I'm sure). But in America, as I'm sure we all know, we have a serious issue with obesity and overweightness in children, teens and adults. This would probably mean that physical education in general would be a bad thing to cut from the public education system. Some of these kids get no exercise whatsoever outside of their gym classes. Regardless of where the fault is in that situation, gym class is probably a necessary "evil," as some would say. I still do not support the decision to cut the arts from ANYWHERE. But I guess when faced with the difficult decision of what goes first, I understand where the school board is coming from. Maybe that explains it. But we are lucky - my boyfriend's boss, actually, the ownder of the company he works for, is pretty wealthy. he has agreed that for every person to donate ANY amount of money to the arts in public schools, he will match it with an additional $100, up to...I want to say $400,000. Pretty lucky. That's a good man. He's made sure they mention it everywhere too, so that it does happen. What's good is that he isn't even a politician or anything, so it isn't for political gain. he is just a good guy with a lot of money. ^^; I know from experience that it is a selfless act he is doing here.
Rexperience Bleeding on the Floor Age: 32 Gender: Male Posts: 1052	July 12th, 2008 at 05:11pm Eponine: specifically my chemistry teacher, I didn't learn anything in that class. We even read Siddhartha. Really I thought Hinduism was, for the most part, polytheistic? I was pretty lucky for Chem, my teacher was a bit crazy, but she was really nice. If you took the time to go in after school she'd talk you through everything and help you find the answers. Her final also had a 40pt curve on it . Its polytheistic in the sense that Western culture says it is. People here have trouble looking at the complex, open and worldly eastern ideologies the way they are meant to be understood. Hindu people observe the endless omni present Universe under the name of Brahman, who is all. The Vedas; the ancient texts that founded Hinduism, have over 300 descriptive titles of the divine compared to our one "God." In their ideology the Universe is so vast and unimaginable, it would not be proper to only attach one name to it. Many so called gods in the Hindu religion are truly disciples of the Universe. In other interpretations, each God is a manifestation of a certain energy force that makes up our Universe. My avatar is one of Ganesha: the remover of obstacles. While I loved this symbol for its message and its elephant reference (favorite animal) I could not truly say I believed in a real live elephant headed Deity. It wasn't until I read an Indian book explaining the symbol of Ganesha. In the east, it is not meant that he is a real being, as Westerners observe Jesus as a tangible divine figure, but as and energy force that is found in all things, and given a specific image to help describe it for better clarity. So in other words; OUt of respect, the one Universe (God) is catagorized into different manifistations of energy that then are given images. Sorry to the Mods, this got off topic. This will be the extent of my Religious Discusion without doing it in PMs or in the Religion thread. Thank you.
blow Bleeding on the Floor Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 1137	July 12th, 2008 at 05:43pm KingRex: I was pretty lucky for Chem, my teacher was a bit crazy, but she was really nice. If you took the time to go in after school she'd talk you through everything and help you find the answers. Her final also had a 40pt curve on it . For most of the year we had a long term substitute. : [ i feel extra extra lucky about the school thing, because it's been confirmed that next year we are becoming an only Arts and Humanities school. : ] Although several school are being closed all together. Oh duh, I completely forgot that. I could use a refresher course in religion.
Ghostgirl191 Jazz Hands Age: 32 Gender: Female Posts: 288	July 12th, 2008 at 05:55pm my school didnt have money to bring in the school buses on the days of our finals, so we didnt get half days. on top of that, they spent $800,000 on a house right next to the school so that they could make the parking lot bigger. the house was worth $100,000 at the most. and that 800 grand didnt include the construction fees. and any extra money the school got went to the FCAT instead of getting new books and replacing the computers and things like that.
blow Bleeding on the Floor Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 1137	July 12th, 2008 at 07:31pm I feel dumb but, what is the FCAT?
thank fsm. In The Murder Scene Age: 36 Gender: Female Posts: 20564	July 12th, 2008 at 08:33pm It's a standardized test administered to the students of Florida.
tabitha Bleeding on the Floor Age: 45 Gender: Female Posts: 1831	July 12th, 2008 at 09:07pm The public schools in Florida are a joke right now. They teach to the FCAT (as posted before, a standardized test) which is broken up into Reading/Language and Math. Then they got the bright idea that to combat child obesity the schools are required to spend 30 minutes a day in PE. Due to early release on Wednesday (school gets out an hour early for "teacher prep time" ) the kids are in school a total of 24 hours per week. They have to have 2 hours a day of math and 2 hours of English/reading, 30 minutes of PE, 30 minutes for lunch, and 20 minutes a day of "specials" (read: every other subject besides Math or English) -- so Art, Science, Music, and Social Studies/History are crammed into 20 minute blocks, one a day, once per week. It's ridiculous. So they have to teach to the FCAT because their score on that determines their budget for the year. The biggest budget problem is ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) which drains money like crazy. But since the Hispanic population is nearing 50% of the state, and the majority of them do not speak English fluently, so they don't teach it to their children, it falls to the schools to do it. And the FCAT is only administered in English, so if the child can't read it, they can't pass it, and the school loses money. It's a no-win situation for all involved.
thank fsm. In The Murder Scene Age: 36 Gender: Female Posts: 20564	July 12th, 2008 at 10:30pm Unfortunately that is the only side of public schooling in Florida that I have ever witnessed. I only attended for 4 years in Florida but it seemed almost scary to me that my education was so poorly planned and so poorly given.
Ghostgirl191 Jazz Hands Age: 32 Gender: Female Posts: 288	July 12th, 2008 at 11:03pm Eponine: I feel dumb but, what is the FACT? the FACT is Florida's state standardized test. It stands for Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. and anyone who has taken the FCAT will tell you that its a stupid test, we practice for it allll year, if we dont pass it in 10th grade we dont graduate and the most of the math questions this past year were geometrey and alot of the 10 graders hadn't taken geometrey yet or they were just put in it so its really an unfair test. and it doesnt test what you know, it tests how well you test
Rexperience Bleeding on the Floor Age: 32 Gender: Male Posts: 1052	July 13th, 2008 at 01:23am psychochip: so Art, Science, Music, and Social Studies/History are crammed into 20 minute blocks, one a day, once per week. WHAT THE FUCK!? Those are like all of my academic reasons for going to school!
Faye Merci Salute You in Your Grave Age: - Gender: - Posts: 4473	July 13th, 2008 at 01:39am Eponine: Faye Merci: Does anyone besides me know why there's being school cuts, or no? Well, for those in America, it's because we're in a recession. It's No Child Left A Dime i mean, No Child Left Behind
blow Bleeding on the Floor Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 1137	July 13th, 2008 at 01:56am Faye Merci: [ Well, for those in America, it's because we're in a recession. It's No Child Left A Dime i mean, No Child Left Behind[/quote] Haha. yeah that too. I think that's also responsible for dumbing down kids. I'm in all advanced classes, but because of No Child Left Behind the people in charge try to make the teachers teach at a lower level, which doesn't make any sense because they are advanced class! We have to take Benchmark tests every month in most classes and most of the time the tests aren't even relevant to what we are studying at the time. We will be tested over the roman empire when we are studying WWII. It's just a waste of paper.
blow Bleeding on the Floor Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 1137	July 13th, 2008 at 01:57am Faye Merci: It's No Child Left A Dime i mean, No Child Left Behind Haha. yeah that too. I think that's also responsible for dumbing down kids. I'm in all advanced classes, but because of No Child Left Behind the people in charge try to make the teachers teach at a lower level, which doesn't make any sense because they are advanced class! We have to take Benchmark tests every month in most classes and most of the time the tests aren't even relevant to what we are studying at the time. We will be tested over the roman empire when we are studying WWII. It's just a waste of paper.
tabitha Bleeding on the Floor Age: 45 Gender: Female Posts: 1831	July 13th, 2008 at 10:01am I find it terrible that, to avoid hurting a child's self-esteem, they can only be held back once. I would rather a child repeat a grade several times and go into the world with a firm grasp of the material than worry about them feeling "dumb." I was two years younger than everyone else in my grade level since I skipped grades, and I was teased mercilessly and called a "baby" all the time. You know what? I survived. And so will they. Worry about producing productive members of society, not pampering them. Their boss won't promote them if they can't perform the work, so why are schools allowing them to pass if they can't do the work at that level?
thank fsm. In The Murder Scene Age: 36 Gender: Female Posts: 20564	July 13th, 2008 at 11:42am Eponine: Faye Merci: Does anyone besides me know why there's being school cuts, or no? Well, for those in America, it's because we're in a recession. A recession is two successive quarters in a year of negative financial growth. We still haven't had one. But if people kep saying we're in a recession, we're going to be from everyone freaking out and not dealing with their money normally. Sorry to spam, just wanted to bring that up because it drives me nuts.
blow Bleeding on the Floor Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 1137	July 14th, 2008 at 12:20am ^Ah, True, I'll just change that to 'headed towards a recession'.

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