NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/ca/general/1523

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-17 | 3.5 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Michael Genzuk)
Newsgroups: ca.general
Subject: California Public Schools Funding: A Masterplan for Failure
Date: 17 Nov 1992 14:53:36 -0800
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
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In article 7903 Michael Walker says, "Thowing money at it hasn't worked.
What I'm hearing is that CA is spending more on schools now then in the
past, but the standards keep dropping."

Michael, CA has not been throwing money at the problems.  Please keep in mind
that student populations have escalated dramatically in recent years.  The
numbers of students entering CA schools is astronomical.  If you review the
periodicals you will see that overcrowding is a major problem in this state.
Besides the sheer numbers of new studnets you need to take into consideration
the escalating costs of materials, building maintenance etc.  Money going into
education doesn't begin to cover the cost of inflation.  In spite of the
costs, keep in mind, that if you think education is expensive, look at the
cost of ignorance.

California schools are experiencing situations never before faced by educators.
An article in "Phi Delta Kappan" quotes a California student on her view of
California classrooms, "Before I came to California I had dreams of life
here.  I thought about tall Anglos, big buildings, and houses with lawns.
I was surprised when I arrived to see so many kinds of people - black people,
Asians.  I found people from Korea, Cambodia, and Mexico.  In California I
found not just America.  I found the whole world."

Her words echo the experiences of teachers and students all over California,
each feeling the effects of the unprecedented diverstiy in our classrooms -
a diversity of languages, cultures, customs, and backgrounds.  Immigrants
are only one part of that diversity.  Issues of instruction are changing
daily as we rapidly approach the 21st century.  We need schools that deal
fully with issues of diversity; schools that look frankly at matters of
prejudice and equity; schools that support, celebrate, and integrate the
cultures, languages, and backgrounds of their students; schools that
incorporate the curriculum and the teaching strategies appropriate to the vast
range of learning styles, cultures and needs that are found in our
multiethnic, multiracial society.

The simple fact is that public schools are not receiving the kind of resources
and attention they need to address the complex needs of such a diverse and
rapidly changing student population.  We can blame it on teachers,
administrators, parents, culture or language...but the simple fact is that
this will not solve the dilemma. Society pays the price for schools that fail
to educate.  Dropouts are more than three times as likely to be unemployed
and more than four times as likely to have been in trouble with the law.
Each prison inmate costs California taxpayers at least $17,000 a year.  There
is a direct correlation between lack of college aspiration and drug related
arrests in children under the age of 18.  Like I said if you think eduction
is expensive, try ignorance.

The bottom line is that if we don't prepare our students for the 21st
century and the global marketplace, we will descend into mediocrity.
We can make a difference, it won't be cheap, but we can make a difference.

Michael at USC