I was honored this past week to be mentioned in Crystal River High School science teacher Greg Biance’s column below. I wanted to also add a couple of additional details that are further worth mentioning. Pearson holds a $254 million FCAT testing contract with the state of Florida. Only 40% of teacher’s in Citrus County belong to the teachers union. Last year DOE released data that showed that 10% of Florida charter schools earned a failing grade while only 1% of public schools earned a failing grade. In addition almost half of all the new private charter schools earned a failing grade.” ~Thomas

Chronicle Editorial – Biance: Get out of my schoolhouse

I know that asking questions is easier than finding any solutions. As a science teacher, I explore both aspects with academic scrutiny. So this question is simple and hits the core of teacher’s confusion: If we can separate church and state in education, then why can we not separate politics from education? Why must the people of least knowledge in the educational arena dictate a methodology that reflects a crap shoot in the business world, but is now rolling the dice across our academic desk? I just don’t get it.

When accountability hit the educational world in the early 1990s, the business powers to be were biting at their bit to start a revolution. No one wanted to attack the real problem of family values or academic drive as the culprit. It was assumed that the poor management skills of educators created our dilemma. So the lobbyists lined up with dollars in their eyes and possible profits to tap into. Opportunity with the growing technology interest and virtual online programs to sell was their bottom line. In business, it is always about the bottom line.

But wait, I am manufacturing moving parts with varied brain capacities…

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