SultanOfSwing

From what I've heard, most of Florida is a hole, all right ...

dj6372

Very droll

kimilseung

Or the mold growing on peoples decaying dreams.

anotherlimey

Florida schools are entirely devoted to standardized testing.

There are kids in my son's first grade class who have so much anxiety because of all the testing they freak out everyday before school. By freak out I mean crying and hiding in closets, and having to be dragged to school screaming.

The system is a mess here.

scrubbedexpat099

Sounds more a parental issue.

robin1234

It's also not as bad as what went on in Tom Browns Schooldays, Wackford Squeers etc..... torture, persistent and institutionalized sexual abuse, having to learn Ancient Greek, play up, play up and play the game....

mrken30

I always thought Florida was the place to exhibit the reptilian in us. The place where reptiles retire.

zzrmark

...it's a mess mostly because the education boards haven't yet done enough to work out what those standardized tests involve (he says as his good lady is next to him forwarding her AP lesson plans for the year - the AP overseers gave teachers until Jan30 to submit their plans for the year despite having been teaching classes since August, it is a new AP course but you'd think that a national board might have a better idea of what their teachers should be teaching!)

I find the State's class size legislation and the loopholes it allows making that legislation a waste of the paper it's written on a complete farce and the salary my wife (who chairs a 20 strong department) receives is absolutely laughable

...and as for the damned annual humidity in the State I'd rather get a boat and take my chances in Missouri.

indigogirl1976

Hey hey hey...Florida is not all bad! I'm from Northern Ireland and we moved to Florida 5 years ago. My American husband and I were living in the Northern Ireland but when the reecession hit we both lost our jobs and we moved to the land of honey and nectar aka the USA. I have to say I was very homesick at first but now I don't regret it at at and am very settled. I don't miss the uk. I love where we live (Tampa Bay Area). I do not miss the horrible Norn iron weather or the crappy wages I was earning. Life in Florida is good. Nice affordable house and mortgage, beaches less than a mile away, good quality of life and contrary to popular belief both my kids are in very good public schools. Believe me Florida knows it's public schools are rubbish and they are doing a good job at providing charter schools and fundamental schools to compensate. I worked in New York and Virginia before and I much prefer Florida. It's full of immigrants, there is a good mix of international people (Clearwater has a big polish community), the weather is always good and people are happy. I'd personally recommend Flordia. If you can sort visas out I'd say you should seriously look at it as an option. If you have any specific questions about schools etc please feel free to pm me. Don't listen to these Florida bashers ;-)

BerkshireBugsy

Well done and thank you for putting an alternative view on life in Florida

Pulaski

It's probably not bad, and every state has some downsides, but the frequently seen expression "we want to move to Florida" to me seems to lack imagination and be indicative of people looking for some sort of fantasy life that just sets themselves up for disappointment.

mikelincs

Well, it's where Disneyland is.. innit, and that's where the majority of Brits get their ideas of moving to Florida from..

BerkshireBugsy

Disneyland in Florida? News to me I thought it was in California

But I agree with your sentiment. I think there is probably a large percentage of brits who have been to Central Florida who don't understand the difference between visiting someone for a couple of weeks on holiday and living/working there.

Pulaski

Or realize that "a couple of weeks" is all the holiday many Americans get each year!

username.exe

I think many do understand the difference.
The problem is, the reality of differences in how society is organized (combined with politics and other influences) are not - and cannot - be completely apparent until you start living here and doing the day-to-day.

Many people think 'I'd much rather be doing the shopping in the sunshine with the beach down the road and live in a big house than doing those chores in my little UK squat in the rain'. Some are able to make the change, find that the downsides aren't that bad and really enjoy it.
Others find out the the sunshine doesn't compensate adequately for the negatives.
Different strokes for different folks.

I agree with the comments on where it usually comes from - trips to Disneyworld .