Number 10

Gadsden Elementary -- 10th Best?

Nine little Indians,
Their hearts were full of hate.
One took his neighbor's goods,
Then there were eight
--Ten Little Indians,
The Yardbirds

Kind of makes me feel sometimes,
didn't have to go
But as the eagle leaves the nest,
it's got so far to go
--Ten Years Gone, Led Zeppelin

My arms enfold the dole queue
Malnutrition dulls my hair
My eyes are black and lifeless
With an underprivileged stare
--One in Ten, UB 40
___________________

The Vietnamese used to call GI's By the moniker, "Number 10". One was a No. 10 if one was a "Cheap Charlie". Number 10 was not a term of endearment.

So Ranger was surprised to see this sign on the grounds of his local Elementary School: "10th Best School in Florida, 2012". Looking very penitentiary-like and down at the heels as it was built the same year the Titanic sunk, that linkage was probably portentous; not all sinkings are swift. But the surprising thing about the school was that it was thrilled to be #10.

It was not easy to find online how this modest rating was achieved, or by which agency it was awarded; Gadsden Elementary is not a SACS affiliated school. Surely it can't be 10th best in every metric. Most of the hits gave a generic thumbs up by real estate companies trying to woo potential clients of young children to settle in this modest town. However, some of the rankings of the local Quincy Shanks High School were online, testifying to a more dismal public school legacy:

Quincy Shanks High School is an "F" school -- the lowest ranking possibly, and it has held that position for a number of years, probably since the rating system began. (The other two schools in Gadsden County are only marginally better: West Gadsden is ranked in the bottom 20%; East Gadsden slightly higher in the bottom 40%.) The dismal Quincy Shanks High School is 95% black; 9% of the students take the SAT, with an average COMBINED score of 702 (Quincy Shanks High School data.)

In this context, #10 would be noteworthy. Now if you want to discuss football rankings, you will get a far cheerier picture. After graduation, Gadsden County jail or a number of fast food joints await.

If this elementary school truly is the 10th best school, something bad is happening between childhood and young adulthood. But the county is No.1 in one ranking: It has the highest sexually transmitted disease (STD) rate in the state. And per capita recently, Gadsden's AIDs rate was in the running for top spot, just behind that of the nation of Ghana, actually. (When national magazine Essence featured Quincy's remarkable AIDs standing in Feb. 03, it was not the sort of notoriety the poor town was hoping for.)

But hey, we have the annual Tomato Wrestling event, and are vying with neighboring Wakulla County to host the 2013 Worm Gruntin' Festival.

It all depends on where your priorities lie.