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Lower expectations are not what high schoolers need

Re: State may quit failing 9th-graders. Dec. 14.

As a veteran educator I read Ron Matus' article about our education commissioner's idea of no longer retaining ninth-graders. Well, sure go ahead and classify them as something they aren't. That must be very PC.

The third-time ninth-grader interviewed said that he had been only "goofing around." It is a shame that no one noted this earlier and put him in some type of mentoring program. Was he socially promoted from the eighth grade to high school? Did his lack of progress just suddenly appear once he was in the big bad world of high school? He is to be applauded for deciding to come back and start anew.

Education Commissioner John Winn wants a new definition for grade levels in high school. It will be interesting to see the criteria upon which a new classification will be based. He wants more remediation. I couldn't disagree more. Remediation should be accomplished before a student reaches high school.

Rep. Dennis Baxley said that if they are going to talk about high school reform they will need to talk about middle school. Maybe that is where they should start. It is not just a change in start time, it is also a change in expectations. I am not sure there is any transition at the middle school level. It almost seems that many good teachers at that level are forced to dumb down their classes so more students can feel good about passing when they have not earned that promotion.

One of the greatest problems in high school was the reason the student interviewed in this article returned, social reasons. If we could get as much attention paid to academics as is paid to social life our students would excel.

If we continue to hold our students responsible on FCAT, how dare we lower our expectations in other areas.

No way to build a work force

Re: State may quit failing 9th-graders.

The Florida education commissioner's proposal to not fail the ninth-grade students is shocking to say the least.

If students are unable to perform, shouldn't they learn how to do better? The biggest challenge today's employers have is to find employees with a decent work ethic. Not demanding high standards in school will only ill-prepare the youth of today to participate in tomorrow's work force.

Do the work to pass the grade

It is not bad enough that Florida has one of the worst ranked public education systems in the nation. Now some of those responsible for this deplorable state of affairs want to promote poorly motivated ninth-graders into the 10th grade even if they can't pass the courses.

I wonder if these egg-headed educators have stopped to consider that a student unable to do ninth-grade work will not be able to pass the 10th grade. We might just as well give all newborns a high school diploma and close the schools.

There's too much public access TV

Re: Don't reduce public access to TV, Dec. 13.

I disagree with your editorial. Six channels is too many. Every channel dedicated to "public access" (read: controlled by government) is one less channel available for shows the public might be interested in watching. I sometimes watch government TV and find it useful and informative. Same with the educational channel. But six channels just for the city's use? Come on! I suggest you force yourself to actually watch what is shown on Channel 20 under the label of "public access TV." No wonder surveys show almost no one watches it, and that 9 out of 10 want no part of funding it.

A major point left out of your opinion is the simple fact that all of these "freebies" or "concessions" to the city ultimately end up being paid for my me and the other consumers who pay the bills.

We all say we want competition. Why? For better prices and programming. But if government keeps insisting on lots of extras for itself, we won't get either.

Three channels are enough

Re: Don't reduce public access to TV.

Regarding your recent editorial, we respectfully disagree. Frankly, our request to the city of Tampa provides plenty of access programming and reduces our costs, which are ultimately passed on to our customers. Everyone wins.

It makes perfect sense to reduce the public, education and government (PEG) channels currently utilized by Tampa. As reported by the Times, the vast majority of our customers rarely or never watch public access channels, and 93 percent of our customers do not wish to pay for them.

Consider further that, in addition to offering three existing channels for the city's use, we proposed the use of new technologies through our XOD platform, which would provide even greater flexibility and usefulness to our subscribers who do watch the government, education or public access programs. Why not use more customer-friendly technology if at the end of the day all of the programming is preserved?

Competition is in full swing among cable companies, telephone companies and satellite broadcasters, with the result hopefully being better programming at competitive prices. The realization, and emerging practice, is that government must help in this by reducing, not increasing, its demands for expensive extras and fees.

Recognizing the public benefit, Bright House will continue to provide PEG channels, but it is unreasonable for the city to require more than three channels of programming that is not valued by the customers who are paying for them.

Repulsive people on display

Re: Recent front-page coverage.

I cannot understand how you could allow such publicity for two of the most repulsive people in this area by giving them front-page coverage and long, detailed articles. Joe Redner and Bubba the Love Sponge Clem have disgraced our communities with their sexually exploitive behavior and illegal activities. They deserve no coverage other than exposing their misdeeds.

A disgrace to humanity

I was disgusted to see the article about Bubba the Love Sponge Clem on the front page of the Sunday paper with a picture of him kissing his son. He is a sad example of a family man. He is a disgrace to humanity. He and Howard Stern are the scum of the earth.

Why can't you put something uplifting on the front page such as the article about the handicapped couple in the Clearwater Times section who are donating toys to needy children?

[Last modified December 16, 2005, 00:54:19]