No Duval high school sports?

[uptowngirl]

cross walk gaurds that we must ahve because parents are too dumb to cross the street with their children safely (or too lazy to walk them theirselves)

The reason we need crossing guards is not because of the parents (being too dumb?) - it is because of the drivers who won't look up from their phones long enough to see that a kid is trying to cross the street.  My goal would be for every child to be able to walk to school - and alone once they are old enough.  That would mean that we have succeeded in creating safe neighborhoods for our kids to grow up in.

And what costs less in the long run?  Every parent driving their own kid to school or kids using a 'transit' system?  School buses are about the only 'transit' system in Jacksonville that really works.  It reduces the number of vehicle miles driven on the roads.

Should High School athletics be a concern to the average parents? You make the call for yourself. A career in sports is not much more likely than winning the lottery for students.

Teaching children the benefits of physical activity is a pretty worthwhile cause, I believe.  It has nothing to do with a career in sports.  Same goes with the teamwork and sportsmanship that is learned along the way.

Calling BS on this one. So the cross walk guard has some kind of internal super powers to stop stupid drivers that I don't? TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY (it used to be a volunteer position- not paid!)

It does not cost the tax payers anything for parents to drive their children to school.

[mtraininjax]

Pay to play will work nicely in DCPS. Also, pay to finger paint or play an instrument. After all, they are there to get an education. I don't hire people based on the number of baskets they can score, I hire them on the ability to read and comprehend.

Priorities! Get them in order.

[BridgeTroll]

If the state is cutting funds it is sending the counties for education... it seems to me the state must modify it's budget priorities.  Cut another area of the state budget to finance education.

Here is the proposed budget...

http://letsgettowork.state.fl.us/reports/2011-Governors-Bill.pdf

[mtraininjax]

Gasbag Gentry as quoted in the Times Union today at the end of the Editorial on the left side of the page:

What really matters

As Gentry said, the school district needs to address an issue that is still not fully appreciated. "Our children simply can't read," he said.

Large proportions of students cannot read at grade level. That leaves them more likely to drop out, to graduate unable to compete in the workplace or get a college education.

Intensive reading education must underlie everything the school district does.

Until reading improves, failing scores will be commonplace.

Like I said before, who cares about kids throwing a baseball or shooting hoops when they cannot read or do simple math? When will reading be more important than if a kid can play a sport or sing on the taxpayer's dime?

The priorities of the citizens of this city are wack!

[uptowngirl]

Did anyone see the first coast news editorial this morning? I caught part of it and I thought I heard them say to cut art and music before sports? Please tell me I heard that wrong....please!

[dougskiles]

Pay to play will work nicely in DCPS. Also, pay to finger paint or play an instrument. After all, they are there to get an education. I don't hire people based on the number of baskets they can score, I hire them on the ability to read and comprehend.

Priorities! Get them in order.

I couldn't disagree with you more, mtrain.  There is so much more to life than just reading and comprehending.  The skills that comes from art, music and physical activity are equally as important in developing a healthy person as the traditional academic subjects.

[Ralph W]

We have yet to hear from Dan Hicken, TV12 Sports Director, or the others who make a living as armchair quarterbacks.

Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida, home of the Jaguars - but no high school football teams.

Is anybody on any national ball team a product of a Duval County school sports program?

Local news (TV) would shut down if they couldn't present programing of 30% weather, 30% war, super disasters, cops and robbers and 30% sports and then divvy up the remaining 10% between inane bantering, traffic reports that drivers on their way home can't watch and a smattering of other stuff.

[cityimrov]

Sports in school isn't about finding a career.  It's about friendships and bonding with others around a common activity or goal.  Those skills aren't in a textbook - but they're the most valuable of all life skills and are critical to a good education.

Those skills are also found in a textbook too.  Not textbook but in learning new things.  I have a fun time talking with a group of buddies who managed to survive school and still have a great time talking about lots of educational topics.  We learn more from each other then we would have alone.  I call this teamwork.  

The thing is, while your in school, your yelled at (by the teacher) if you ever so dare talk to your seatmate about a problem.  If you dare share anything you learned, you get an F for cheating.  Teamwork in school is punished.

Imagine a coach yelling at the team for talking to each other.  Have them tell each player that they aren't allowed to share anything they learned and they aren't allowed to talk to each other during practice and game day except for a very quiet time during breaks.  Also, they aren't allowed to share what they learned from each other or they are kicked off the team!  

The official school system should probably learn more from the sports team.

[jandar]

We have yet to hear from Dan Hicken, TV12 Sports Director, or the others who make a living as armchair quarterbacks.

Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida, home of the Jaguars - but no high school football teams.

Is anybody on any national ball team a product of a Duval County school sports program?

Lauveres Coles
Tim Tebow
Leon Washington
Lito Sheppard
Jabar Gaffney
Rashean Mathis
Brian Dawkins

Thats just a current list. There have been dozens of NFL players from Jacksonville (not surrounding counties, just Jacksonville) that have played in the NFL.

Quite a few baseball stars as well, and golfers, and basketball players and even a few Olympians.
Jacksonville has a long history of athletes.

*Quite a few from surrounding counties too, but just counting the list from JAX to show.

[AmyLynne]

We have yet to hear from Dan Hicken, TV12 Sports Director, or the others who make a living as armchair quarterbacks.

Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida, home of the Jaguars - but no high school football teams.

Is anybody on any national ball team a product of a Duval County school sports program?

Lauveres Coles
Tim Tebow
Leon Washington
Lito Sheppard
Jabar Gaffney
Rashean Mathis
Brian Dawkins

Thats just a current list. There have been dozens of NFL players from Jacksonville (not surrounding counties, just Jacksonville) that have played in the NFL.

Quite a few baseball stars as well, and golfers, and basketball players and even a few Olympians.
Jacksonville has a long history of athletes.

*Quite a few from surrounding counties too, but just counting the list from JAX to show.

Didn't Tebow play in St. Johns county?

[mtraininjax]

I couldn't disagree with you more, mtrain.  There is so much more to life than just reading and comprehending.  The skills that comes from art, music and physical activity are equally as important in developing a healthy person as the traditional academic subjects.

Doug,

In our city, when you have thousands of kids who fall back a grade because they cannot stay with their classmates, we treat sports and arts as more important than basic simple education. If you need art and sports, pay to play works nicely too. Who said attending school allowed kids to play sports or play an instrument?

That's wrong and your view is wrong. Get back to the basics, make sure kids can read and do math before they graduate. Throwing a baseball or pounding on the drums will most likely not get kids a job to contribute to society.

[Dog Walker]

It doesn't matter what you learn from sports or music or art.  If you can't read well you are going to be stuck in menial jobs for the rest of your life. 

Nothing is more important than reading well.  It is the foundation of all other learning and the ability to keep learning after formal education is over.

If a child is not reading at grade level, then ALL other activities must take a back seat to the teaching of reading.

[dougskiles]

That's wrong and your view is wrong. Get back to the basics, make sure kids can read and do math before they graduate. Throwing a baseball or pounding on the drums will most likely not get kids a job to contribute to society.

A tree produces fruit that we eat.  Does that mean that the rest of the tree has no value?  What about the shade it provides?  The re-oxygenation of the atmosphere?  The stabilization of soil?  Thinking that only math and reading have value is like saying that only the fruit of the tree is valuable.

I agree that kids should know how to read and do math.  I also believe that the rest of their education is equally important.

Many people have gone on to do great things in life because of inspiration they gained from art or through physical activity.  For me personally, I am able to solve some of my most difficult work problems (which is very math based BTW - I'm an engineer) when I am out running.  I also enjoy seeing the world through the creative eyes of artists.  Believe it or not, their unique perspective also helps me solve problems.  In the last 20 years, rarely have I gone to a math textbook to solve some of these unique problems.  Usually, I try to get outside of the 'engineering' box and look for solutions that haven't been developed yet.

[dougskiles]

If a child is not reading at grade level, then ALL other activities must take a back seat to the teaching of reading.

And take away every other thing that they may be good at in life as a result?  That's a little extreme.  It is no wonder that some of these kids give up on school.  We can't force people to read any more than we can force them to eat or drink.

[uptowngirl]

LOL- do you have kids?

The first thing I do with my "at times obstinate daughter" is tell no Riding lessons, no karate, no...you fill in the blank. It is a motivator. It is even used in the real grown up world- no good at work, no bonus, no job, no home. Do some still fail miserably? Sure but at least someone gave it a shot.