I know, the economy is in shambles so how can people talk about wanting to have something other than minimally adequate in the Constitution of our state when it comes to educating our children? Well, there are people who think we owe ourselves more than minimally adequate when it comes to education -- for our present and for their future. Here is some information shared with me by a former Coker student on a committee trying to gain support to get the minimally adequate verbiage out of the Constitution:
THE MESSAGE ---
Our state constitution, adopted in 1895, authorized the South Carolina to establish and maintain a free public education system. Initially ruling on a lawsuit in 1999, this section of the constitution has interpreted by the S. C. Supreme Court to only require the state to provide a “minimally adequate” education for our public school system.
“Minimally adequate” was defined by the Supreme Court as teaching students to read, write, do basic math calculations, be employable and good citizens. We say that this standard is not good enough for South Carolina in the 21st Century.
I support replacing the words “minimally adequate” with “high quality education, allowing every student to reach their highest potential.” This change will set a higher standard for students, parents, educators, taxpayers and our educational legislation.
The Goodbye Minimally Adequate campaign-- a non-profit, non-politically affiliated petition drive—seeks to collect 1,000,000 signatures in support of “high quality education” in our public schools to be presented to our state legislature. The petition asks the General Assembly to allow the public to vote to amend the wording of the state constitution.
Please take a moment to visit their website at www.GoodbyeMinimallyAdequate.com to learn about the issue and sign the petition. We also encourage you to tell your friends, family and co-workers about this petition drive. Anyone of school age and older with a South Carolina address can sign the petition.
Thank you for the support,
Schools are always one of the major elements considered when people describe the desirability of particular communities.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Why wouldn't we invest heavily in making high quality education available for all students? The only answers that come to my mind are ascribable to the most regrettable features of human character.
ReplyDeleteAs Americans, and certainly as South Carolinians, we should demand better than minimally adequate in all public services, especially those which prepare our children to live healthy, rewarding, and productive lives.
I didn't know this but I should have as a teacher. Even though I teach adults, I know that problems that exists in the schools in SC, because my brother teaches 7th grade. What a joke it is to even have that type of language on the books. No wonder SC ranks either last or close to it in all meaningful educational statistics...
ReplyDeleteThe community needs high education system.
ReplyDelete