Where Our County Is Going With Education

We are not unique here in education. This year we are facing the worst monetary crisis we have ever had in Florida. A combination of finance reductions at the state level and overextending in starting new schools in our county means that 25% of our funding has evaporated.

I won't try to second guess the decisions of our state and local administrators. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but it won't help solve the current crisis. Besides, my area of expertise is not administration or politics. I am a teacher and I am very worried that I am not going to have the supplies this year to adequately train the future scientists and doctors I will be given charge of. What can I do to replace fundamental labs and dissections that they must have in order to get a full education in Biology and Anatomy? Many of these kids will be going into medicine and research. They deserve the best experience in my classes I can offer them and I am deeply fearful that I will be forced to cut so many corners that they will not be adequately trained or inspired. Books are great as a staple but the heart and soul of the biological sciences is laboratory work. It is not cheap and there are no good substitutes. I do not want to be placed in the position of just sitting there asking them to memorize material. That is not science and it is not teaching. Some things can not be adjusted for and this is one of them. In a couple of weeks I go back to teaching and then I will see how bad it will really be. I wish I could be more upbeat and positive about this but to me it just feels like the death of good science teaching. I pray I am wrong.