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‘I’m not wanted’: Florida universities hit by brain drain as academics flee
(www.theguardian.com)
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this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2023
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I've wondered how long we'll go before universities across the country start refusing to accept Florida high school graduates because their coursework does not meet basic acceptance criteria. I can see the Ivy league starting first because they have a legitimate reason to want their incoming freshmen to have top-notch coursework under their belt so they can hit the ground running, and once the first domino falls I'd imagine lots of universities would rush to join the chorus. If Florida officials want their kids to learn that slavery was good and that rainbows don't exist, then fine. They're disqualified from attending tertiary institutions whose history and sociology instruction is predicated on those things being bullshit. It'd be no different from some crazy-ass wingnut homeschooler trying to get into Harvard after having taken classes like "Cell Biology and Jesus", "Why God Made Calculus", and "The Physics of Heaven" from their mom.
This is exactly what DeSantis and his ilk want. Conservatives are scared shitless of their kids going off to university and finding out that their parents and schools have been lying to them their whole life.
Solution: Ensure no out-of-state schools will accept your students so they're stuck in your shitty system forever.
I remember a homeschooled kid the first year of college. Their whole life was turned upside down. Couldn't finish the year, then they enlisted. Never heard what happened after
Sounds like the system the right would like to institute and they'd be okay with this outcome.
The battles over AP curriculum were already partially this.
While this would make a big statement, the real victims would be innocent teenagers. Arguably we should be doing the opposite and trying to get as many of them out of that state as possible.
I don't understand why the education curriculum is not set at a federal level. It's not like 2+2 ever equals 14, no matter what state your from.
It might be preferable in the current political climate, but think about what might have happened if this was the case 5 years ago.
Meh. If it doesn't directly impact them or their families, conservatives won't give a shit. So I say make it very real for them, and make it clear their children are learning a version of history that significantly undermines their academic and professional careers. Harvard doesn't owe them shit, and Karen McBurnaBook won't pay attention to a word you say until little Annie can't get into college and has to take remedial classes at the community college to qualify for an out-of-state 4-year institution. Maybe that way Annie will be forced to stand up to her parents' bullshit antics when they show up at the school board meeting to call everyone a pedophile.
You want to make an omelet? Gotta break some eggs, unfortunately.
You do realize that there are non-conservative children currently living in Florida?
What part of my comment makes you think I'm complaining about the ideology of children?
Why would you restrict the opportunities of children then? That fucks them over more than the parents, and speaking of which, there are also many non-conservative parents in Florida.
By not allowing them to receive the basic education requirements to attend college level classes their parents are the ones fucking them over, this would just be a consequence of that...
Most of our parents don't have anything to do with Ron DeSantis's laws, we just live here.
Omelet. Eggs.
Furthermore, one of the top reasons for people to move to or away from somewhere is the quality of a school district. Families can (and do) make life-altering decisions based on where their children will get the kind of education that gives them an advantage in life. If Florida has decided it's ok with the collateral damage to children's future that comes with hitching their wagon to culture war issues, then I'm ok with collateral damage to show them how fucked up that is. Sucks those innocent kids have to go through this, but right now it's either a) attend shitty FL high school and still get into college, b) attend shitty FL high school and don't get into college, or c) don't attend shitty FL high school. I'm not super keen on letting their kids benefit from their shittiness, but I'm also not in charge of college admissions.
I really enjoy how everyone on this platform circlejerks about helping the poor and then advocates fucking over kids who's parents can't afford to leave Florida
I listed very clear options for people in Florida. You didn't refute or correct them, you just changed the subject to appeal to some kind of guilt, which is telling.
I. Don't. Care. Florida citizens are very clearly and consistently voting people into office who support this bullshit. Until it bites them in the ass, they will continue to vote that way, because they have their cake and can eat it, too. It's not my job to protect them from the pain either a) they're inflicting upon themselves, or b) their neighbors are inflicting upon them.
A large section of Floridians do not vote for Ron Desantis and are subject to things like gerrymandering which prevent their votes from mattering in the first place. Most of the people who do vote for these policies are people who place no value whatsoever on education in the first place. Your policy would end up fucking over an entire state based on the actions of a minority of its residents.
Marco Rubio got almost 58% of the vote in 2022. DeSantis got over 59%. Moody got over 60%. Patronis 59.5%. Simpson 59%. All statewide races. 59.36% of FL House race votes went to Republicans. 60.07% of FL Senate race votes went to Republicans. Across the board and with remarkable consistency, 60% of your neighbors have voted to gut your education system and teach your kids fantasies. Don't shoot the messenger.
So be it. That's a problem for the people of Florida to sort out.
Majority. A clear majority. And it's their actions that are fucking over your entire state, not mine.
This can be attributed to the fact that Democrats have completely abandoned the idea of campaigning in Florida and the fact that the Florida government is well-known to engage in voter suppression efforts.
Nearly half of Floridians don't even vote for various reasons including but not limited to voter suppression, so nah, it's a minority of residents. I'm also highly doubtful that colleges not accepting high school diplomas from an entire state would even be considered legal, so I think I'll be fine.
No. It can be attributed to the fact that 60% of the people who vote, vote for Republicans. It's really not more complicated than that. If somebody stands in front of a lecture hall and screams, "if you vote for me I will poison your dog!", and you still vote for that person, then it's not the fault of the town veterinarian for failing to show up to tell you why that's a bad thing and to vote for someone else instead. Every single statewide race had a challenger in 2022, and 60% of your neighbors chose not to vote for that challenger. At this point, I'm only left with the conclusion that they really hated the dog and wanted it gone.
Tough shit. Get off your ass or live with the consequences of your apathy.
Colleges can accept whatever curricula meet their basic requirements. They're well within their institutional legality to opt to refuse admission to students who don't qualify, because...that's literally what they do every single day. The fact that FL students (should) no longer qualify is a testament to the fact that their teachers no longer teach the truth, not the fact that the university suddenly changed their standards.
Stop blaming literally everyone except your neighbors. They're the ones voting for this bullshit. The rest of us are just shining a light on our conundrum. Don't shoot the messenger.
Aight, whatever then. You're obviously not worth speaking to, but luckily, you'll never be in a position to put your words into action, so I don't need to. I'm gonna carry on with my day.
Good luck with your shitty neighbors. They clearly don't give a damn about you or your children.
I'll sum up this hard truth with an analogy: "You must be this tall to ride this rollercoaster" has nothing to do with punishing short kids. It prevents injury to short kids.
The thing is, letting kids with sub-par K-12 education into higher ed isn't doing them any favors. It sets them up for potentially devastating failure. Many of them will be so far behind that they'll fail within the first year. It's not that they're not smart, or they're not hard workers. They simply lack the foundation that their peers already have. They'll need remedial coursework before they can even try to re-take the standard curriculum. Or they may be able to limp through some basic classes before failing a year later.
Imagine that scenario for all the kids in an entire state.
And to continue your point - you're right that poor kids are punished. They're punished all across the US, but it has nothing to do with whether they're admitted to university. It's because their K-12 schools are funded by local property taxes. Rich districts get good schools with better teachers, and access to better materials and opportunities. Poor districts have few resources, more (on average) parental apathy towards education, and poorer outcomes. Even the top ranked kids from poor schools may struggle when they reach college.
Florida is trying to expand that disadvantage to an entire state. The fact that out of state admission officers will look at a HS degree from Florida the same way they'd look at one from a homeschooled kid isn't a suggestion or a proposal. It's a fact.
I really enjoy how people like you feel self-important while doing nothing but complaining.
You want to help the kids? Overturn or undermine Desantis's fucked up policies now, while those kids you're parading around have a chance. Set up tutoring servers on Discord. Set up online libraries full of banned books and spread the links everywhere. Be the change you want to see in the world. But don't you dare complain about institutions enforcing basic education standards on its students.
Institutions rejecting me because I got my diploma from Florida is a direct threat to my future. It's not possible for me to do anything about Ron DeSantis other than vote and encourage other people to vote, all of what you're suggesting involves time and effort which I don't have and can't give.
You can always go to online college out of state. Learn everything online.
🤔 We need education subs.
This part was true. There's no action that we can take to save them from shit parents if they support this nonsense.
I see you've met my cousin! I wish I was kidding. :(