Monday, January 7, 2008

Florida Legislature Says Tourism Profits Trump Education

The PNJ reports in today's paper that a recent move by the Florida legislature to help out the tourism industry is detrimental to the state's high school students. The legislation pushed back the start of the school year to let students work later into the summer at tourism industry jobs.

The legislation signed into law last year would be perfectly fine if it wasn't detrimental to the student's education. The delayed start forces school districts across Florida to schedule their semester exams after the holiday break, when the material is not fresh in student's minds.

Also, students must take the responsibility to study for exams in their time off.

Come on, we all know this isn't going to happen. Even teachers know this.

The PNJ quotes former math teacher and current Escambia County school board member Gerald Boone who says, "students aren't going to study over Christmas."

I understand that the tourism industry in Florida needs the student's labor and it costs them money when students leave their jobs to go back to school, but legislating them to work later into the summer is putting their education in jeopardy.

I've heard of government putting business interests before the interests of its citizens, but this is pretty despicable. With this legislation, Florida has put profits before education. That's just wrong.

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