A cat statue found on Key Marco in Southwest Florida.
Our story last week looking at Bureau of Labor Statistics data in the wake of Gov. Rick Scott’s criticism of anthropology majors generated more conversation than anything else we’ve done at StateImpact Florida.
Anthromajor, expressing the majority opinion, said the skills learned are not the domain of tweedy eggheads and translate to business:
I am an Executive Managing Director, Senior VP with a large real estate company in a major US city. I possess a bachelor of science in Anthropology. It was my education and training that helped me land a job in real estate years ago. My employer noticed that my background could be helpful a multi-cultural environment. Not only did my education help me attain an understanding of diverse cultures, the intense math and science courses prepared me to manage multi-million-dollar assets.
DREAM Act activist Juan Rodriguez with Students Working for Equal Rights (SWER) paints "I Am Shamir" on t-shirts before the protest for Shamir Ali in Pompano Beach, Oct. 25, 2011.
Immigration officials say their decision to deport a Palm Beach College student is consistent with a new policy prioritizing the deportation of those committing crimes because a judge ordered the student deported as a child.
That makes 25-year-old Shamir Ali a fugitive, said Nestor Yglesias, spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami.
Ali ignored the order and stayed in Florida to attend college and work.
Florida schools lack adequate funding, according to a survey of state business leaders.
More than 85 percent of surveyed businesspeople believe Florida does not spend enough on K-12 education, according to a survey by the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations released earlier this month.
The unscientific poll surveyed 277 members of state education funds, which the CFEF says are typically community business people.
Is anthropology a science? Scientists say yes, according to a University of Florida professor.
A commenter, citing a letter from a University of Florida anthropology professor, responds to the ongoing conversation about whether anthropology is a STEM study.
The opinions of the groups assessing anthropology should not be treated equally:
First, there are scientific organizations, institutions built, managed
and participated in by a broad spectrum of scientists, united in the
use of scientific methodologies and theoretical structures for data
gathering and analysis to test the hypotheses and theories. Mentioned
in the Truth-O-Meter article is one: the National Science Foundation,
whose personnel is largely comprised of actual scientists. NSF is a
powerful arbiter STEM scientific research because it manages the
distribution of public monies in support of scientific endeavors…
Second: the other agencies mentioned by
Truth-O-Meter as arbiters of scientific standing are not scientific
organizations, but bureaucratic ones, in which some scientists
participate but are agencies subject to political whims, preferences and
often the selective utilization of factual materials responding to
those who establish them
Scientist-led groups believe anthropology is a STEM field, the professor writes.
Scott has yet to submit a proposal, but the Texas reforms have sparked criticisms from administration and faculty. Florida State University’s president has also drafted an alternative plan to measure school performance.
“Many of the accountability proposals in the Texas plan are currently embedded in the University of Florida’s approach to accountability,” Machen wrote to Scott, noting faculty are vigorously reviewed. “Students control their destiny through the ability to take their state-funded Bright Futures scholarships wherever they choose to matriculate. Student satisfaction and success is further measured by retention rates, graduation rates, and applicant demand for admission.”
School Choice Ohio has released a roadmap for improving Buckeye State schools that looks a lot like Florida's plan.
In the trade balance between Ohio and Florida, the Sunshine State usually imports far more than it exports. (Those imports are usually in Clearwater wearing Ohio State jerseys on Saturdays)
But School Choice Ohio believes the Buckeye State should import some education ideas from Florida.
We should note the report was authored by a researcher at the Tallahassee-based Foundation for Excellence in Education, whose founder is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Bush implemented many of the reforms the report credits for Florida’s improvement. The conclusions echo many of the accomplishments Bush has previously claimed.
Florida’s low-income students saw the largest gains in reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test between 1998 and 2009, the report argues. Florida’s gains put it roughly even with Ohio for fourth grade reading scores.
That’s what happening to Balere Language Academy in South Miami Heights, according to the Miami Herald.
The school with about 85 students is losing $79,000 over suspicions about the school’s staff and finances. How much charters get is based on the number of students enrolled at the school.
Two education-related lawsuits head to court this week.
The Florida Education Association sends a helpful reminder that two lawsuits they filed are heading to Circuit Court in Tallahassee this week.
The first case challenges a new state law which requires state employees take a 3 percent pay cut in order to pay a portion of their pension benefits. The suit argues the law is unconstitutional because public employees, including teachers, have a constitutionally protected right to collective bargaining.
The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning.
The second suit challenges a ballot question intended to overturn a century-old ban on spending public funds on religious organizations.
The law was a key reason the Florida Supreme Court shut down a state program granting vouchers for private school tuition in 2006.
That case is scheduled for a Thursday afternoon hearing.
University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft told two state Senators that any audit of USF Polytechnic is up to the regional campus chancellor.
Republican state Sens. Paula Dockery and Mike Fasano asked Genshaft to audit USF Polytechnic after learning the school hired regional chancellor Marshall Goodman’s son to run a business incubator program. The school also planned to spend $500,000 on a promotional video.
USF Poly, in Lakeland, is pushing to become an independent university. A state board could consider that request next month.
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We should note the report was authored by a researcher at the Tallahassee-based 
