TU: Saturday Lead Letter: Some changes at FSCJ have been tried, others forced by Legislature

Link to article: http://jacksonville.com/opinion/letters-readers/2017-06-23/saturday-lead-letter-some-changes-fscj-have-been-tried-others

Former President Woodrow Wilson — a man who spent years as a university president before going into politics — once said this:

“It is easier to change the location of a cemetery than to change the school curriculum.”

That statement is worth recalling given the stories about Florida State College at Jacksonville that seem full of sound and fury about “positive” recent changes.

Many of these changes have already been tried in the past — or they can’t be considered good changes.

all change isn’t wise change

• For example, the college is exploring having some department chairs — but former FSCJ President Charles Spence inaugurated department chairs a couple decades ago.

• The school’s campuses/centers had provosts until they were renamed as “campus presidents.”

Now the positions are on the chopping block, and the college will wind up with what was called “matrix management” under Spence.

The reality is that all of the larger state colleges have a glut of administrators. You could remove every other layer of administration from those state colleges without doing any great harm to the institutions.

• Finally, FSCJ is considering cuts in baffling areas: For instance, the school — prodded by a generally inept Florida Legislature — is reportedly exploring getting rid of tutors.

As an English and humanities instructor for more than 38 years, I know that tutors can be invaluable to students.

Sometimes students are weak in one area — like math —but may be performing adequately in other classes.

The instructors are able to give some assistance, but the students often need additional help from staffers in the tutoring department.

In addition, tutoring help is terribly inexpensive. Tutors are near the bottom of the pay scale. It is far easier to find waste in upper administration than in tutoring centers.

missing the big picture

During the 1970s — when Democrats controlled the Florida Legislature — this attitude was common:

“A college student should not need remedial courses or tutoring. If they are not ready for college, they shouldn’t be in college. Let them learn welding or something.”

But that attitude was an extremely short-sighted one.

First, many trades require their employees to read at a 10th- grade level in order to be able to understand the work-related manuals.

Second, students often only need just a little coaching from tutors to be able to improve to satisfactory levels.

Third, the Sunshine State is a magnet to the other 49 states — so newcomers to Florida often arrive with academic deficiencies.

Howard Denson, Jacksonville