My Two Cents — May 7, 2012
May 07, 2012 | 3208 views | 13 13 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend | print
• Over the next few months we are going to hear every excuse they can come up with for us to vote for a T-SPLOST. They want us to pay for railroad improvements that we don’t have a train for. They want us to pay for a new airport that very few of us will ever use. I, for one, am not voting for another T-SPLOST.

• Sorry to break the bad news, but Ronda Rich got married again, just recently.

• What are you insinuating is wrong with reading Ronda Rich’s column?

• After the school system squanders away $25 million on technology from the E-SPLOST, we the taxpayers will be on the hook for maintenance and upkeep of these upgrades from now on. If the T-SPLOST passes and our local officials squander away that money on, let’s say an airport, the taxpayers will also inherit the burden for the upkeep and maintenance.

• Making it to the Major Leagues is a weeding out process.

• There is a new book coming out, “Barack Obama, The Story.” You can find it in the fiction section.

• The senior citizens keep writing in about how they should not have to pay property taxes, yet they want us to build them a $3 million senior center. Doesn’t make sense to me.
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Comments
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70plus
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May 09, 2012
It sounds like Griffin is using the lexile approach for reading. If the teachers looked "lost" it's probably because they were just assigned 25-30 students and told to group them by ability for instruction. They also know that several of those students have been diagnosed ADHD and most of them are carrying baggage from home environment problems. What looks good on paper when state and system committees, often composed of people with little or no teaching experience, decide what will be done in the classroom is impossible to do at the reality level. Other than reading texts, I don't recall 1st and 2nd graders ever having textbooks. Do they have workbooks? What are the teachers using for concrete evidence of student performance? Memorization of the facts is necessary but usually isn't considered as "teaching". It's more like perfecting a skill and should be done only after the concept has been taught. Your grandchildren are lucky to have a concerned, involved grandparent.
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norosecoloredglasses
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May 08, 2012
The Fox Theatre, 14th St. Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Agatha's, Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, Atlanta Symphony, Fernbank, High Museum of Art, Georgia Aquarium... I could go on, but I won't. I have also been to the Griffin offerings. They are very talented. But sit in your room and act like Griffin is the center of the universe.
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70plus
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May 08, 2012
Peskysenior. . .Are you saying the students do not have textbooks or that they have them but are not using them? It is my understanding that textbooks in all subject areas are provided for the students, but teachers are encouraged to not use them exclusively for their instruction. Though the use of technology is now manditory if our schools are going to keep with the times and move successfully into the future, I agree that the system seems to jump on the bandwagon with the purchase of technology before investigating the needs and value of the purchase. Are all those IPads truly being used to improve the education of our students? Regarding math instruction, using counters (manipulatives) is good, but rote memorization has proven to be an ineffective method for teaching math. The important thing to remember in using technology is for us not to lose sight of the personal interaction between student and teacher which is still an essential part of a good education.
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peskysenior
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May 08, 2012
My grandchildren do not have math textbooks at all in 1st and 2nd grades. The system decided not to buy them. In addition, the science, social studies, and health books are ancient and not being replaced or used. The reading series was not renewed when the opportunity arrived. Instead, tax money was spent on packets of little books without teacher's editions. I helped in an elementary school to get these organized for the teachers who look lost. Teachers are discouraged from using text books and students cannot bring them home because there are only a limited number available. Regarding rote learning, my grandchildren and I use math fact cards sent home by the schools to memorize math facts. It is on the report card as a standard. Technology is wonderful, our children must know how to use it, but they do not need to spend hours in front of a computer instead of, as you said, interacting with peers and adults. Thank you for responding to my comment.
dalescout
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May 07, 2012
Those who disagree with Curtis Jones obviously didn't live under an honor code in college like he did.
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peskysenior
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May 08, 2012
Honor codes learned in college only work if you use them as an adult.
dalescout
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May 07, 2012
After watching Mainstreet Players, Griffin Choral Arts and The Griffin Ballet Theatre the past two weeks, why would you want to go to Atlanta? Great talent here in Griffin.
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dalescout
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May 07, 2012
Griffin Ballet Theatre's performance of Little Mermaid was out of this world. Fantastic performance!
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dalescout
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May 07, 2012
The field at Memorial stadium looked fantastic for high school soccer this year! Thanks.
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dalescout
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May 07, 2012
It is a shame that someone with superb talent, a one per center no less, would waste it because of drugs.
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70plus
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May 07, 2012
To the seniors who are complaining about paying school taxes: What is your reasoning on this? You obviously learned to read and write somewhere so unless you went to a private school, who do you think paid for your education? Pass it on and then get a little more involved with HOW those school taxes are being used.

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peskysenior
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May 08, 2012
I do not have any problem with paying school taxes. My problem is with the way the money is used. Griffin Spalding tried to be something it isn't and used too much money to put too much technology that doesn't work on a regular basis into elementary schools that could share one of each item per grade level. That way the children of this county could have BOOKS. Are you aware that the teachers are not supposed to use the reading texts, technology attached to the reading texts, or have any math books from which to teach our children?Much of the equipment is already obsolete and breaking down. Teach children to read and function mathematically with counters and sheer memory.Then add the technology that has light bulbs that cost 300 dollars a piece. Teach children to write so they can use laptops. Don't buy technology just to get awards or to sound good to other counties with much higher test scores. Start with what has worked for centuries: basic reading, writing, and math concepts. Then integrate them into the technology our children will need to know.
GriffinYankee
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May 09, 2012
Apparently what has worked for centuries isn't working anymore. The US is behind in math, reading, and sciences compared to the rest of the world. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0923110.html