Scott Roadshow Props

Recently Gov. Rick Scott came to town. By now we know his basic MO: blame and bask. Blame President Obama and Charlie Crist because life still isn’t fair and bask in empathy for a given audience. And then prepare non sequitur answers, typically beginning with “Gosh,” for any annoying media interlopers.

Most recently he stopped at Jefferson High to talk to hand-picked, 16-and-17-year-old students about their goals–and to see if steep tuition hikes for college was something they could do without. Indeed, they were not in favor of paying more for college.

He’s on their side. Mission accomplished.

Scott is not alone in such orchestrations. But School Board member April Griffin was right. This smacked of using high school students as props. In a campaign year, it’s unseemly.

Articulate, well groomed, and polite, they were still impressionable teens on a media stage with a major authority figure. It’s their school, but it was an away game for them. They’re not old enough to vote or have a mature, contextual take on budgets and politics, but they’re the perfect, young-adult age to prop before a governor listening to concerned constituents of all ages.

If Scott truly cared what they thought–from standardized tests, their school’s grade and AP courses to their ambitions in life–he would have taken voluminous notes behind closed doors.

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