One of the more flippant education reforms in Florida this year was to offer students an Econo Lodge version of high school. U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, is justly critical of the three-year graduation plan. But Davis, a former majority leader in the state House, knows better than to solve a thoughtless state mandate with a meddlesome federal one.
The new three-year diploma option removes a full year of high school and six required course credits, including a half credit in U.S. government and a full one in U.S. history. Davis said Monday that Congress must fix the injustice by withholding federal education money from states that don't require American history and government for graduation. He even dressed himself in the rhetoric of war, saying, "I am appalled that as soldiers are fighting in Iraq to protect our freedoms, the Florida Legislature has decided that it is not important for students to learn how these freedoms were won in the first place."
There is indeed much about the abbreviated high-school graduation plan that parents and educators find appalling, but Davis would do better to leave the repair to his Democratic colleagues in Tallahassee. They will find that Republicans are on the run. Already, the state's university Board of Governors has denounced the plan. Howard Rock, a Florida International University history professor who sits on the board, called it "an absolute travesty. We are setting kids up to fail. This is a disaster." Education Commissioner Jim Horne is working on suggested legislative changes, including a requirement that students in the three-year option graduate with a B average and take American government and history.
The new graduation plan received so little debate that most high school counselors didn't know about it until told to inform students in August. The House introduced it as part of cost-savings measures aimed at meeting the voter-mandated obligations for smaller classrooms. In the process, Rep. Ken Gottlieb, D-Hollywood, tried to remove the early diploma provision, arguing, "These kids need to be in class." The response, from Rep. Joe Pickens, R-Palatka, the bill's sponsor, was to deride Gottlieb's amendment as a "butts in seats" measure, as though lawmakers view the senior year as essentially a waste of time.
Academically advanced students do deserve options for early graduation, but school districts and universities already provide them, through dual enrollment, early admission, advanced placement and International Baccalaureate programs. That is why so many people are now denouncing the three-year diploma as a cheap stunt, which, despite his earnest intentions, might fairly describe Davis' counterinitiative in Congress.
