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Alabama Scene
The numbers on how poorly high school graduates are prepared for college were grim….one out of every four who enters college needs remedial training, especially in math and English. An in-depth study showed that of the 20,742 high school grads who entered college this past year some 5,483 of them weren’t academically ready for college level studies…especially math and English. Christopher Hammons, a political science professor at Houston Baptist University who conducted the study, gave a blunt assessment of his findings: “We’ve watered down the standards in high schools…we’re afraid to flunk students who need to be flunked.” As to the pay raise the AEA will seek, their head man Dr. Paul Hubbert did not mention a figure…only that he would be looking for a “significant” raise. The salaries of teachers have been boosted a total of 11 percent during the past two years. Their average pay is now about $42,600 this year **** “Wow! I wish I had written that…” Those were the words I mouthed after reading John Archibald’s column in the Birmingham News a few days ago. He addressed the failed attempt by Don Siegelman and Richard Scrushy to have their conviction in federal court overturned because there were not enough blacks in the jury pool. This has to be a first…two white men objecting because there were not enough blacks on the jury. In Alabama, no less. As Archibald wrote: “How ludicrous it is for two well-to-do white guys to fight the courts to get more blacks on their Alabama criminal jury?” Ludicrous indeed. But Siegelman…who beams when he is called Alabama’s “first black governor”…didn’t stop there. In a television interview after the court rejected his plea he invoked the names of not one, not two, but three black icons in his response. First, he predicted that the 11th Circuit Court would overturn this ruling. He said the court would swoop in “like Shaquille O’Neal and slam dunk us a new trial.” If not…if the ruling stands …Siegelman added: “I don’t particularly like the idea of being the Nelson Mandela of Alabama politics, but if it is, so be it…I’ll be writing my letters like Dr. King from the Eglin Field jail.” In one soundbite on TV, Siegelman linked himself with O’Neal, Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Only Siegelman could do something like that. Like I said, it was a column that needed to be written… my only regret is that it was not written by me.
Bob Ingram has been covering Alabama politics for over 50 years.
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