It takes a village to raise a child.
There shouldn’t be any reason at all that FAMU Developmental Research School is labeled a failing school when it is walking distance from our glorious university.
This school was given a grade of “F” by the Florida Department of Education in 2006-2007. In 2005-2006, it received a “C,” and in 2004-2005 it received a “D,” according to http://msn.great schools.net/modperl/achievement/fl/3101
The Web site goes on to state that Florida uses school grades to measure the overall performance of a school each year on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Each school is assigned a letter grade (A-F) based on three criteria: the overall performance on the FCAT, the percentage of eligible students who took the test, and whether or not students made progress in reading and math. The school grades are calculated by adding points earned from each of the performance criteria listed above.
Why is it that FAMU is the best HBCU in the nation, but FAMU DRS is an “F” school in the State of Florida?
This is outrageous.
FAMU DRS is not up to par with the state standards because the majority of the students at FAMU have neglected to support and invest in it. There is a lot that we could do as young college students to help FAMU DRS resolve the school’s problems and bring it up to satisfactory. For example, we could do a variety of things to support by mentoring and tutoring the FAMU DRS students on a weekly basis.
At the very least, we cold donate school supplies to the students like pencils, papers, and book bags to help out.
There are students who have made earnest efforts in resolving the issues that FAMU DRS is effected by. We should come together as a collective to support such students.
We should establish a big brother/big sister program with FAMU DRS to adopt students as mentees to assist in their educational process.
W.E.B Dubois once said, “Men must not only know, they must act,” this applies to women as well.
There are more than 160 registered clubs and organizations on campus, so we have both the numbers and the ability to do something.
The same students that made FAMU the best HBCU in the nation could make FAMU DRS an “A” school. By not supporting FAMU DRS we are telling the world that we just don’t care. The biggest divide in Tallahassee is the street that runs between our university and FAMU DRS.
Let’s work to repair this.
Amir Shabazz is a senior philosophy student from Fort Myers. He can be reached at Luvgarvey@yahoo.com.