Tuesday's guest on the “Mornings unPHILtered” show was Democratic candidate for Georgia state school superintendent and Augusta native Dr. Beth Farokhi.
    Farokhi said she has been an educator all her life, and believes Georgia's schools have a great deal of room for improvement. She said the problem doesn't lie with Georgia's teachers, administrators, or students.
    The problem, Farokhi said, is that there is too much focus on testing. She told host Phil Boyum that the Georgia Department of Education has developed its own set of assessment methods instead of using a national standards test.
    Georgia, Farokhi said, is obsessed with achieving higher test results rather than how well students are actually prepared to move on. Farokhi taught in Cobb County schools for six years, and experienced herself the obsession with testing.
    Farokhi received her Bachelors degrees in elementary education and health and physical education at LaGrange College, received a Masters from Emory University, and a PhD in higher education from the University of Georgia.
    Farokhi lives in Cobb County with her husband of 34 years, Dr. N.R. Farokhi, who is a professor of political science at Morris Brown College. They have three children: Sanaz, Amir and Arman.
    Farokhi has served on numerous non-profit community boards, and believes her breadth of experience in the field of education makes her particularly well suited to be superintendent.
    Farokhi said she wants to focus on strengthening math and science curriculum. Getting teachers certified in these fields, she said, should be a high priority.
    Farokhi said by improving the math and science skills of our graduates, we would make our work force more attractive to those companies that need a highly trained corps of employees.
    Farokhi commented that the Georgia Department of Education plans to implement in 2011 a new set of graduation requirements. For instance, all students will be required to have taken four years of math in order to graduate.
    Farokhi stated that she would work towards establishing a requirement that all schools at every level would implement a rigorous plan of physical education, both to reduce childhood obesity and to allow them to run off their nervous energy.
   
     “Mornings unPHILtered” airs live Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on statesboroherald.com and also simulcast on WWNS-AM 1240 on the radio. You also can listen anytime at BoroLive.com on statesboroherald.com