Bright Futures for scientists, teachers

Who knows how far this will go, but sophomore Democratic Sen. Jeremy Ring wants to base the amount of Bright Futures awards on whether a student studies, say, philosophy or engineering.

SB 1320 has no House sponsor yet, but Ring says Republican Rep. Frank  Attkisson will file the companion soon.

Bright Futures now covers all tuition and fees for the brightest Florida High School graduates, plus $300 per semester for expenses like books. It covers 75 percent for students with slightly lower GPAs and SATs. Ring, calling his proposal an "economic development tool," wants to encourage more students to study the sciences by awarding less to the English majors and more to the education or science majors.

Science-engineer types would get 110 percent of tuition and fees covered, plus $330 a semester for expenses, while those philosophers would get a scholarship covering between just 55 and 80 percent of tuition and fees.

"I anticipate there will be some students and parents who are disturbed," Ring told the Buzz. "But if you’re a philosophy major and you’re going to get 80 percent of your tuition covered, it’s still a good deal.”

Comments

Firstly,
Who is decide which majors deserve more money than others? What about students studying communications? Or Marketing?
Those students are the people who are heads of companies in positions such as Public Relations. Without majors such as these major companies wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
I understand that students in science majors may deserve more money for books because God knows that their fees can be up to $1,000. But decreasing the amount given for tuition is rediculous.
The point of Bright Futures is to reward students for doing well on their SAT's in HIGH SCHOOL.
Which is what High School students are forced to study for, very similar to FCAT. If students do well on their tests they deserve to be treated and rewarded equally.
Not doing so, is pretty much saying my child is actually doing something with their life and yours isn't so they get more money. That's extremely wrong!

[Brian]

Um...so what about the roughly 1/2 of each students' career during which no major is declared?

[Diane Hanfmann]

Interesting. Actions to stop the dumbing down should coincide with this effort. Advanced students should be allowed to accelerate so they can achieve at their highest level. Sadly,
such a state-approved curricular modification is routinely avoided, as described by multitudes of research in A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America's Brightest Students. When schools dumb down to the egalitarian notions of NCLB, our brightest are kept from achieving to potential. What a foolhardy position
for a country to take...teach to the lowest ommon denominator!!