Youth Radio - Topic: Education

The Recession Hits Home

rgee — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:34:13 -0600

This story was originally published on L.A. Youth.

By Jennifer Gonzales-Romero

My mom, my brother and I used to go to the movies or eat out almost every weekend. We weren’t rich but I could tell my mom wasn’t struggling because she could always afford to take us out. Things changed in June 2009 when my mom was laid off from her job as an assistant property manager for a property management office.

I never thought she’d lose her job because she’d been working there for eight years. But since she didn’t look worried, I didn’t worry either. My mom had savings and the government gave her unemployment—money you get from the government every two weeks after you’ve been laid off. But she still made sure to budget her money.

We didn’t eat out or go to the movies as often. Out of habit, I’d ask my mom to buy me clothes when we were at the store but she said she couldn’t. So I would mostly ask my dad whenever I went over to his house because he had a job. Many times my junior year I’d come home after band practice and see my mom on her laptop looking for jobs, but she wasn’t having much luck. I didn’t think it would take two years for her to find a job and that she’d struggle to pay her bills.

The summer before senior year, I researched colleges. My dream school was the University of La Verne because I thought its small class sizes would be better for me. Tuition cost $31,300 a year but I thought financial aid would cover everything since my mom was unemployed. By the end of the summer I knew that I couldn’t depend on my parents to buy me new clothes and pay for my senior year expenses so I kept my summer job at Little Caesars.

In late September my mom started dating an old classmate from New Orleans. He and his daughter moved here and my mom and them moved into a three-bedroom home. My brother and I stayed in our apartment and my dad moved in with us so we could continue going to school in South Gate. My mom and her boyfriend got married in December.

My mom started to worry

At the beginning of 2011, I started to notice that my mom was struggling. Her mail was still sent to the apartment where I lived with my dad, so she would call almost every other day asking me whether her unemployment check had arrived. When I would say no she would say “OK” in a worried voice. She had been receiving unemployment for a year and a half and to keep getting it she had to prove she was still looking for a job. She told me she was worried that they wouldn’t believe she was having trouble finding one and that they would cut her off.Her husband wasn’t working either because he was having trouble finding a job in construction. I felt bad.

One day in March, I was doing homework in my mom’s room. She was sitting on her bed going through papers when she told me she was behind with her car payments. She started crying and said that she didn’t know how she was going to pay for her car and for rent. It hurt me to see her cry and I started tearing up too. I wanted to help her but I didn’t know how. I knew that if she couldn’t pay her car loan that they would take her car away, but she needed it. How else would she go to job interviews or pick my brother and me up so we could stay at her house?

In April, my mom scored a temporary job as an assistant property manager. I was hoping that they would keep her permanently. But after five weeks they didn’t need her anymore, so she went back to looking for a job. Around the same time I noticed that my mom’s husband was borrowing her car more often. I asked my mom what happened and she said he sold his car and they used the money to pay for rent. Still, I didn’t think their situation was so bad because they still had their home and money to buy food. But now that I look back, my mom had been worrying about a lot of bills.

In May I decided that I wanted to get my prom dress made so that it would be unique. I asked my mom if she could help pay for it since my dad had offered to pay $100. I think she knew how much it meant to me so without any hesitation she said she could pay $100 too. I was so excited. I didn’t feel bad for asking because if she had said no, I would have understood. I wanted prom to be perfect and I was just thinking about that.

A couple of weeks later my mom picked up my brother and me from my dad’s house, and I gave her three letters from the unemployment office. When she read them, she looked worried. I asked her what was wrong and she said that they were no longer going to give her unemployment. When she started driving she remained quiet and looked like she was thinking. Then she started crying and said that she had a lot of bills to pay and she didn’t know what she was going to do.

I thought about saying, “It will be OK, things will get better” but it didn’t seem right because I didn’t know whether things would get better. My brother and I kept quiet for the rest of the car ride. I wanted to offer her money but the only money I had I was going to use to buy my prom ticket. I didn’t want to be selfish but I didn’t want to miss out on one of my most memorable high school experiences. I couldn’t understand why she couldn’t find a job. She had a college degree, she was outgoing and hardworking, so why wouldn’t anyone hire her? She couldn’t help pay for my prom dress The next day she called and told me that she was having trouble paying rent and that they were going to move into a one-bedroom apartment. She told me she couldn’t give me the $100 anymore. I understood and told her it was OK. But now I didn’t have enough money either so I didn’t know what I was going to do.

My next paycheck wasn’t until the day of prom. I didn’t want to ask my dad for money because he couldn’t afford it and I knew he would get mad that my mom couldn’t contribute since they always split the expenses for me and my brother. My mom suggested I use some of the money I had saved for college from selling pastelitos, a Central American meat pocket, at school. I didn’t want to but it was the only way I could get money fast. I promised myself I would pay back every cent after my next few paychecks. Then my mom asked me if she could borrow $120 from my pastelito money. I was shocked she was asking me for money, but I said yeah. It showed how badly she needed it if she was asking me.

Although it hurt to hear what my mom was going through, it felt nice to finally have a way to help her. I had fun at prom because I was hanging out with my boyfriend and my best friend and her date. I was excited prom was finally happening and graduation was approaching. Around the same time, I found out that the University of La Verne was going to give me about $24,000 in grants and scholarships, which left me with about $11,000 to pay myself or through loans for the rest of the tuition, books, food and personal expenses.

One of the loans had to be taken out by one of my parents, and it was the loan with the most money, $4,000. I asked my parents but they didn’t want to take out the loan because my dad had bad credit and my mom had no income. I understood but it meant that I would be able to take out only $7,000 in loans so I would have to work part-time while going to school. I hoped I would make enough money to pay for my phone, gas and other expenses.

In June my mom went for a second job interview as a payroll clerk. I knew how hard my mom was looking for a job and I was hoping that they would hire her. After the interview she picked me up so we could open a checking account. She said they would call her later in the day to tell her whether she got the job. When we were opening the account with a banker, they called her. She stepped outside the banker’s cubicle while I finished opening my account. When she was done she came in crying with a smile on her face. I knew it was good news. She said they gave her the job and she would start next week. I was happy so I gave her a hug.

Afterward, we picked up my little brother and celebrated her new job by going to a restaurant to eat tacos. Now that my mom has a job, things have gotten better for her. She and her husband moved into a three-bedroom apartment and she’s been paying her bills off. She also has extra money again so she and her husband go out to eat on weekends sometimes. When my mom lost her job I was busy with my own life—just worrying about school, being in band and college applications. But as I watched my mom struggle, I realized how hard it is to make money and how the economy could affect even those who are good at budgeting their money or have a college degree.

Seeing my mom struggle makes me worry about whether I will get a job after I graduate from college. I realize now that it’s hard for a lot of people to get jobs, especially young people because we’re inexperienced. I now know how expensive life is when you’re an adult I’m scared about one day living on my own because I will have to pay for rent, groceries, utilities, the Internet, cable and all this other stuff. My job at Little Caesars is minimum wage and I couldn’t support myself on that.

Looking back, I could have asked my mom if she had enough money to pay all her bills. If I knew that earlier, I could have understood that she was struggling. If I had saved my money from my job instead of spending it on clothes, I think I could have paid for my prom dress myself. Now, I’m more appreciative of what my parents are able to give me. My mom has agreed to pay for my car insurance. I appreciate her help because I know it’s hard for her since she is still trying to pay off her bills.

To thank my dad, I’m helping around the house more and contributing to some house expenses since he is letting me live with him for free while I go to college. I wish my mom didn’t have to go through that financial struggle, but I’m glad I’ve learned from it. Save money for emergencies. Make sure I don’t go into debt. This is the perfect time to realize that before I’m living on my own.

Will Measuring Creativity In Schools Help Youth Be Workforce Ready?

rgee — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:53:34 -0600

Last month, the California State Senate approved a bill to develop a Creativity and Innovation Education Index, designed to measure how schools are fostering creativity among their students. California is just one of several states to implement a law like this, Massachusetts being the first, according to Education Week.

It might seem like a shock that California is concerned with measuring creativity opportunities when the budget for arts classes and music programs has been cut in school districts all over the state in recent years. However, employers and business owners are saying that new applicants to the workforce are not equipped with the creativity and critical-thinking skills required to get hired.

The California Alliance for Arts Education describes the index:

A creativity and innovation index would provide a way for schools to rate their progress in teaching, encouraging and fostering creativity in students. Index scores would be voluntarily compiled by school and district staff from a survey of curricula and teacher reports. It would quantify the opportunities in each school as measured by the availability of classes and before and after-school programs offered by and through school districts that nurture creativity and innovation in students. Examples might include visual and performing arts education classes, debate clubs, science fairs, theatre and dance performances, music concerts, film-making, creative writing, and independent research.

We spoke with Mary Wright, Associate Director for The Conference Board, a business membership and research association, who specializes in the intersection of business and education. She was a leader on a report called, “Are They Really Ready To Work?” in 2006, which identified key skill sets that employers thought were important for their employees to have, and creativity / innovation were among the top five.

We spoke with Wright about the concept of a Creativity Index and how she thinks it could affect the workforce readiness of young people today.

Youth Radio: Explain in a nutshell, the findings of your workforce readiness research with regards to the need for non-academic skills.

Wright: We wanted to understand what business really meant by--new entrants are not workforce ready. We looked at both basic skills, which we took from No Child Left Behind-- the reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, and also asked about the applied skills, like 21st century skills. The applied skills are things around critical thinking, information technology application, teamwork and collaboration, and creativity and innovation. There are about 13 or 14 skill sets we looked at.

It was clear to us that the applied skills were the ones that were considered most important. Certainly, people would argue that math and science develop significantly critical thinking skills. They give you tools to figure out problems. But if you can’t communicate what you just learned or what you just did, you’re not as valuable in the workplace.

It was interesting given the emphasis that people have on STEM [science, mathematics, technology and engineering] skills, and yet, what employers were saying, it wasn’t the math skill that was important, it was the critical thinking skill. That would be true regardless of whether someone was in a STEM career or a retail career.

Youth Radio: How does this research reflect a changing trend in the workforce?

Wright: In my parent’s generation, you started working at the bank, and you were at the bank for 50 years and you retired with your gold watch, and that’s all you did. Today’s generation, you’re not only looking at six different jobs at the bank, but six different careers. You may start in a retail company, and take those skills and go to a manufacturing company, and take those skills and go to a bank, and take those skills and go somewhere else.

The ability to use your knowledge as a set of tools, to be ably to analyze, regardless of the industry or the role you find yourself playing - that seems to be a far more valuable skill set than whether you have the technical skills. There’s a stubbornly high unemployment rate, and people are saying that there’s a huge mismatch between the skills of the people available and the skills of the jobs that are there. That, I think, people are attributing to the decline of technical education, or the fact that people are saying everyone needs a four year degree, I think the data shows that that’s not necessarily true.

Youth Radio: Do businesses and schools deal with creativity in the same way?

Wright: We were curious to see, how is it that creativity is taught, and how is it enhanced. We asked both business executives and school administrators how they were thinking about creativity. Everybody said creativity was very important, but how it is defined was quite different. Businesses said that it was the ability to define the problem, whereas school administrators were saying it was the ability to find the answer.

A lot of businesses have gone out of business because they were solving the wrong problem. The auto industry has solved the wrong problem many times over - maybe they’re building bigger cars but the problem was fuel... We also saw that when we asked schools -- what are the programs that help develop creativity? They said creative writing and arts classes. Yet the majority of those classes are not required, not part of the strict core curriculum, they were an elective.

Now business had a very similar result. We asked, once you have these employees, how do you help develop creativity? They said yes, it’s important, but we don’t require them to take advantage of these things, they’re not required. Neither schools nor businesses are making creativity a requirement of either their employees or their students.

Youth Radio: Do you think creativity indices are a good way to increase the amount of creativity in schools?

Wright: What’s important gets measured. I think that therefore developing some metric by which you can determine - are you making a difference? - is a critical one. Massachusetts and California are two states with big high-tech industries and very interested in making sure there’s a creative nature. If we develop this measure and we think these schools are doing it really well - it allows for inter-state and inter-district sharing about what programs have really helped.

We're hoping to be able to ask, if these are the most creative people in the company, what is their training? What is similar in their background that would suggest that therefore if you did the following six things, you are going to be more successful as a creative person? If schools had some measure that begins to say-- it’s because they had a fabulous science teacher, or project-based learning, or a theater program -- because we don’t have a sense of what is the most significant driver.

Youth Radio: Do you have any concerns about the index?

Wright: There’s always an issue around equity -- if kids are coming from an upper-income area and parents can supplement what kids are exposed to, then you begin to worry about the bias. Is it just the school environment? Or what is happening before and after school that is going to make a difference? I haven’t seen the indices so I don’t know how they’re going to factor in that kind of thing.

There’s always the concern about how inclusive is the data and how are they used -- are they used to really benefit all the kids in the system?

Then there’s the issue of preference... If a kid chooses not to be involved in activities like theater, are they missing out on the opportunities?... If that project-based learning is not used in the traditional classroom, then that child will not be exposed. Then there’s the reverse - just because a kid was in a classroom with project-based learning, does that mean they’re inherently more creative? No.

Youth Radio: Do you see a common goal for businesses and education in terms of workforce readiness?

Wright: We continue to look at the issue around how businesses and schools talk to each other. Schools have always felt that their role is to make that person ready to be an important contributor to society, someone you want to have as a neighbor. We certainly feel that the skill sets involved in being workforce-ready are exactly the same as those of being a good citizen -- you can read, you can write, you can express yourself, you can understand, you can take knowledge from a variety of areas and turn it into something useful. We feel that the bridge between the business world and the education world is there - and it’s something we need to work on strengthening.

New Initiative Hopes To Get Climate Change In Class Curriculums

squevedo — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:26:02 -0600

Climate change is starting to become a problem and I’m not strictly speaking to the melting ice caps or extreme weather—it’s creating a problem for teachers too. The debate about integrating climate change into class curriculums is one that is (no pun intended) starting to heat up. That’s why the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) has launched a new initiative to support the teaching of climate change in classrooms.

The initiative is sure to ruffle some feather but Robert Luhn, Director of Communications at NCSE, says the chances of finding a way to please those on both sides of the debate are slim. “You have to remember that science is not a matter of opinion. Science is about empirical data and what we can prove,” he said, “'Teaching the debate', as it’s often called, is really a smoke screen from deniers. Do you find yourself going into chemistry class and seeing someone teaching alchemy? Of course not. There’s no science behind it. It’s the same reason you don’t find someone teaching creationism and evolution at the same time.”

Luhn also says that not teaching about climate change is an issue, but often times uninformed teaching can pose a problem too. “Those that are [teaching about climate change] might not teaching it well because it’s a complex topic. We need more resources for teachers to really learn about the subject.”

Ostracism Turns Young People Off To Physical Activity

rgee — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:51:34 -0600

The American Pediatrics Association released results of a study today that seems to indicate that when students are ostracized, they are less inclined to participate in physical activities.

The study included 19 children between the ages of 8 and 12 years old. The first part of the study involved a computer game called Cyberball. Each child was told that they were playing with two other children on the Internet, but the computer actually controlled the other two “players.” One group of students was tossed the ball regularly, but the other group of students was intentionally ignored and not thrown the ball.

After the Cyberball sessions, the children were given the option of using physical activity equipment or doing stationary activities like word searches and reading. The ostracized students spent 41 percent more time on the stationary activities, reports Education Week. In addition, these children reported greater negative feelings, less emotional-control, and without a sense of belonging.

How Can We Lower The Student Drop Out Rate?

rgee — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:49:56 -0600

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In last week’s State of the Union address, President Obama proposed something radical, that dropping out of high school no longer be allowed. But that might be complicated. Every school district has tried numerous solutions to the dropout dilemma without success. The problem prompted Russell Rumberger to write a book called Dropping Out: Why Students Drop Out of High School and What Can Be Done About It.

Rumberger is director of the California Dropout Research Project, and he currently serves as provost in the Office of the President at the University of California. He recently talked about his theory that high schools need to promote alternatives to college – and that some people might be better served not getting a higher education at all. KALW's Ben Trefny sat down with Youth Radio’s Robyn Gee to discuss this idea of education.

This story was produced by Youth Radio with support from the New Options Project and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Suspensions Don't Work, But They're My Only Tool, Says School Counselor

rgee — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:19:53 -0600

Over the past thirty years, school discipline tactics have hanged drastically. According to a study out of Texas called, Breaking School Rules, the number of student suspensions in the U.S. increased from 1.7 million in 1974 to 3.3 million in 2006.

Part of the increase is due to legislation, like the Drug Free Schools and Communities Act, and the Gun Free School Zones Act. Both went into effect in the 90's, and schools saw a rise of zero-tolerance discipline policies in schools. However, researchers, educators, and policymakers are looking at the current suspension numbers and seeing problems with the population of students that is hit the hardest by these suspensions.

According to the Texas study, the rate of black students suspended at least once rose from 6 to 15 percent, while the rate of white students suspended rose from 3 to 5 percent.

A recent Washington Post article reports that more than 35,000 students in the Washington suburbs were suspended or expelled from school last year, and more than half of them were black students. In addition, 71 percent of all suspensions for insubordination were given to black students, which means the offenses were more likely to be subjective, as opposed to offenses like being caught with a firearm on campus.

The federal government recently announced the “Supportive School Discipline Initiative” to address the high numbers of suspensions and the “school to prison pipeline,” by ensuring that discipline practices in schools maintain students’ civil rights and keep students in school as much as possible.

Mr. W. is a school counselor at a middle school in Richmond, CA who sees the problem first hand. In 2008, this middle school had a violence-suspension rate of 41 percent. When W. accepted the position, he thought he would be doing academic counseling, but has accepted his role as school disciplinarian. “Honestly, I don’t have time to do both... If kids need to talk to me about personal stuff, sorry I don’t have time.” said W. At the beginning of this school year, there was at least one fight per week, he said.

W. said one of the biggest problems at his school is the recently instituted "Hall Sweep" policy to prevent students from being tardy to class. Students have five minutes to get to each class, and when the bell rings, teachers lock their doors. Any student still in the hallway, is rounded up and brought to the office. Then, the student needs a consequence.

According to W., there is currently only one detention session every week, for an hour and a half on Wednesdays. “For a while I had 40 kids in detention for an hour and a half. Then it happened so frequently, that the detentions would fill up. I was issuing detentions three to four weeks in the future... Like there’s no room in detention this Wednesday or next Wednesday so you have detention January 25, and right now it’s December before winter break,” he said.

W. eventually decided to create his own tardy policy. “I give them a first warning. The second time they get a 45 minute detention, the third time they get an hour and a half detention, and the fourth time it’s a suspension.” A student could easily get suspended for being tardy four times in one day. For every period, it takes W. 30 minutes to issue consequences, call parents, and log the information for the group of tardy students. “It’s just not feasible, I need to get the kids to class,” he said.

At this middle school, 56 percent of the student population is Latino, 36 percent is African American, 7 percent is Asian, and 1 percent is white. In places like Washington, black students are suspended and expelled two to five times more often than white students, and W. sees those trends reflected at his school.

“I’m disciplining the same kids over and over for the same thing and the behavior’s not changing. What do you do then? I keep suspending them--I have to-- I have no choice. But [the students] don’t care about the discipline, they don’t care about the consequences... Sometimes I do feel like kids see suspension as a day off. They get to sleep in, watch tv, play video games,” he said. “Suspension doesn’t work, but it’s the only tool we have.” He mentioned one student in particular that skipped the same class six days in a row. Whittaker suspended him for a day, and the student returned to school and skipped the same class again.

So why keep issuing a consequence that isn’t helping behavior?

“How I look at it, suspension isn’t for the kid, but it’s to get him or her out of school so the teacher can teach. It’s not necessarily a punishment--it’s so the teacher can do their job,” said Whittaker.

One of the major areas of scrutiny in current investigations regarding school discipline is the actual offense that leads to suspension. Many researchers say that minor offenses are included under a larger, more serious category of bad behavior. Things like refusing to take hats and hoods off, talking back to teachers, refusing to move seats, and throwing things can all lead to suspension at his school, where one of the school rules is to follow all reasonable requests. “Those aren’t little things. You’re basically telling an adult no. I could suspend them for that,” said W..

Legally, students can only be suspended for 20 days out of the entire school year before they are considered for expulsion, or placement at a different school. W. said he doesn’t have answers, but ideally, he would like to see teachers implementing their own consequence, and parents getting more involved in the progressive discipline model. “I need help at home in order to do my job here. If they’re not getting disciplined or punished at home for these things then they’re not going to care about it here... I think we should bring back Saturday school, get the parents involved,” he said.

Teachers at this school have volunteered to start instituting a detention system on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which W. thinks will help with progressive discipline, but puts a strain on teachers--many of whom hold their own detentions in their classrooms already.

Getting Real About Graduating

rgee — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:24:19 -0600

This piece was originally published on L.A. Youth.

A new program called the Diploma Project is trying to reduce dropout rates at Los Angeles Unified School District schools. The Diploma Project, which is funded by the federal government, has dropout prevention counselors in six middle schools and six high schools.

The high school counselors find students who have dropped out and work with them to get them back in school. They can either re-enroll at their high school or in a program where they can make up their credits, like adult school, continuation school or independent study.

We talked to students from Fremont and Gardena, two high schools that are part of the Diploma Project, about why they dropped out and what helped them return. They were all thankful for the Diploma Project for helping them get back on track to graduate.

Editor Mike Fricano: Why did you drop out?

Maycoll Arata, 20, Gardena Adult School graduate: I was too busy partying, clubbing, going out and having fun instead of studying and doing homework.

Cindy Ávalos, 18, Alternative Education Work Center (AEWC), an independent study program on the Gardena High campus: When I was in ninth grade I didn’t know it was that important to graduate. I didn’t go to class, I didn’t pay attention at all. In 11th grade I realized it was important and I noticed I wasn’t going to be able to graduate.

Mayra Frias, 19, Gardena HS: For me it was a personal problem … Me and my mom would fight every day. That’s when I decided to drop out, which I did when I was in 11th grade for two months. I started looking for a job and I never found one. Then I decided to come back.

Rosario Franco, 18, Gardena AEWC: Since ninth grade I started ditching and I guess it becomes a habit … Every year I would be like, “I’m going to do better next year” but then the next year I’ll go some days but then I’ll miss school other days and I’ll be like “When I miss out, it’s better.” So I started falling back. My senior year I went for three weeks. I was like, “I’m behind credits, I know I’m not going to graduate. Why go and waste my time?”

Curtis Hess, 19, Gardena Adult School: I dropped out of school because I was kicking it with the wrong crowd, gang bangers.

Abigael Perez-Rodriguez, 18, Gardena AEWC: When I entered ninth grade I started hanging out with the wrong people. I was getting high, drunk. I started ditching more and more. We used to hop on Metro and go to downtown, Hollywood, do whatever we want, drink a couple 40s, have fun. I stopped going to school my senior year.

Brigitte Olguin, 16, Fremont HS: In ninth grade my dad was sick. He was almost dying so all that depression got to me and I missed school. I went with friends to try to feel better. It stopped at 11th [grade] because I got caught. They told me, “Why are you missing school? You have a future to go to.” I don’t want to be a low-life. I want to have a good car, a home. If I do good in school I’ll be the first one to graduate in my family. That motivates me to go to school.

Cynthia Garcia, 16, Fremont HS: I had family issues and then from there I started hanging out with the wrong crowd. I started ditching school. I was doing drugs. It started in eighth grade and it went until 11th.

Mike: How were you able to get away with this for so long? Where were your parents or teachers or truant officer?

Cynthia: Both my parents worked. So they thought I was in school when I really wasn’t.

Mike: But what about if you came home with a bad report card?

Cynthia: I would get the report card. They would ask, “When are the report cards due?” I was like, “I don’t know, probably they have the wrong address.” At that time my dad was an alcoholic so he never really paid attention. My mom was too busy trying to make money to put food on the table for us.

Cindy: I would get home first to get my report card, hide it, throw it away.

Abigael: In ninth grade my grades started being Fs. She [My mom] would be like “What’s going on?” But after a while she got tired.

Mike: Did you have parents who emphasized education?

Abigael: My parents came from a foreign country so they’re always telling me to look for a better opportunity that we have here in the United States but I didn’t listen to them.

Mike: When you were at your lowest point—ditching and done with school—what did you think your futures would be?

Cynthia: My older brother would tell me, “I don’t want to see you like me.” I’d listen but then I’d get a little image of me, like what if in the future I’m going to be a pothead? That would get me down and I would keep doing more drugs.

Brigitte: I would put in my head, “I’ll just go to adult school or continuation later on and I’ll make it through.” So I didn’t worry.

Abigael: I just got lazy.

Rosario: I have always worked with my cousin. She works in the swap meet. They pay you cash so I’ve always had money. I was like, “I could work more days.” I really didn’t focus on school. But now you think about it, you can’t do nothing without a high school diploma. The swap meet is hard, after a while you get tired of it. It’s a job that’s not going to take you nowhere. So I’m like, “I have to go back.”

Maycoll: I used to think life was easy. You just get a job anywhere and you live off that. But now that I’m in the real world and I have a kid to support, I have my wife to support, now that I have a family it’s so hard. You can’t even get the low-paying jobs without a high school diploma. That got me to go back to school.

Mike: What motivated you to make school a priority?

Cynthia: My brother was telling me, “Go back to school because it’s not easy without a high school diploma. I mean, look at me. I can’t even get a job and you’re going to struggle a lot so take life more seriously.” And then he’s like, “Look at our little sister and our little brother, they look up to us. You don’t want them to be like us.” So I said, “Yeah, I need to take this more seriously.”

Abigael: I turned 18 and basically you’ve gotta grow up. It took me a while but I managed to come back to school.

Rosario: I have a younger sister, we’re one year apart. She was doing everything I was doing. I would tell her, “You finish school, stop ditching.” She was like, “How can you motivate me if you dropped out?” I started thinking, “I can’t tell her to do something that I couldn’t even do myself.” My teachers also, Ms. Robinson [in attendance] and Ms. Carmi [a Gardena Diploma Project counselor], they would call me every day. [They’d say,] “You have to go back to school, what are you going to do with yourself?” And then my older sister, she graduated and she goes to UC Riverside. She was like, “It’s not that hard … You have the brains to do it.”

Mayra: I have always pictured myself being a nurse, working with kids with cancer. When I used to hear friends say, I’m a senior already, I’m going to be this, I’m going to graduate, that’s what persuaded me because I didn’t want to stay behind.

Cindy: I’m an only child so I would want my mom to be proud of me. I would want her to be out in the crowd and see me graduate. Mike: How did you get hooked up with the Diploma Project? Rosario: When you drop out, they see how many credits you have and if you’re not that far behind they tell you, you still have the opportunity to get [a diploma]. Ms. Robinson was the one who would tell me, “Go to adult school and get the diploma.” Then Ms. Robinson introduced me to Ms. Carmi and she enrolled me.

Judi Carmi, a Diploma Project counselor at Gardena High: These are six of probably 250 students that I’m working with to try to locate and enroll in a credit recovery program. Once I get them re-enrolled, I check in with them often to make sure they’re staying on track. I invite them in if they’re in the area and I call them a lot.

Curtis: Often, often. Just to make sure … I stay on that track.

Mike: What are some of the things about the Diploma Project program that are making you have more success?

Brigitte: Help from Mr. Jones [a Diploma Project counselor at Fremont High]. He was like, “You could go to a continuation school” and I didn’t know about that.

Rosario: The program is independent study so they give you the work and you turn it in every week. I don’t have to go to school and I’m still getting my credits. [School] seemed boring, just dealing with the teachers for a whole hour, listening to them. Not all teachers teach you something. So you’d be like, “Why be in his class if all he’s doing is letting his students go wild?”

Mike: Why do you think independent study has been a good fit for you?

Cindy: Ms. Carmi calls me often. When she calls me I want to give her good news. So I’ll do my work. Every time I have some good news to give her.

Maycoll: I graduated last month. Everybody’s getting their stuff done. I used to see people getting into fights in the middle of class. It’s a different environment because people are actually serious about their education.

Mike: What do you think could be done differently to have prevented you from dropping out?

Curtis: Nothing could have stopped me from doing what I was doing.

Rosario: In the first month I only went four times. How do you let a student miss out for so long and then when they come back you just admit them like nothing? If you don’t have an excused absence, try to talk to their parents. Students would take it more serious.

Maycoll: Phone calls, voicemails, mail, none of that cuts it. You should get to the point with them like the second time. Start sending people to that person’s house until they finally see the parent, not just the student. Sit down with them and tell them what’s going on.

Mike: What are your goals for the future?

Cynthia: If I graduate, I want to be a social worker. I hope I will be able to help students with staying in school.

Brigitte: My goal is to graduate and work in the morgue.

Curtis: My goal is to be a tattoo artist someday. I’m good at drawing so it’s something to keep me busy, keep me out of trouble.

Rosario: I plan to finish high school and get a job and I guess go to college after.

Mayra: I plan to be a nurse at St. Jude and after that I plan to go to Mexico and work in this program that helps kids who have disorders.

Cindy: I want to get my high school diploma and I want to be a pediatrician.

Maycoll: Get a stable job and finally get to college.

Mike: If you could talk to your former self, what would you have told that dropout?

Cynthia: I would tell them it’s not worth dropping out because in the future you won’t have a good life. Stop ditching and get your life straight.

Mayra: My advice is to stay in school and to not hang out with the wrong crowd. Now I don’t care if I’m by myself. Don’t be with people who you know are going to end up making you or influence you to do what they do.

Cynthia: Don’t let nobody bring you down. If somebody tells you, “You’re not going to make it in high school or in life,” that’s not true. You just gotta put it in your head and think positive, yes I’m going to be able to do this.

State Of The Union Touches On Hot Topics In Education

rgee — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:58:51 -0600

President Barack Obama gave education a fair share of attention during the State of the Union address last night.

The talking points:

- Require all students to stay in high school until they are 18

- Extend the tuition tax credit

- States should make higher education a priority in their budgets

- Reward good teachers and keep them on the job

- Give schools flexibility so they do not have to teach to the test

Mr. Obama has said in the past that he hopes the United States will be number one in the world when it comes to having the highest percentage of college graduates. “Higher education can’t be a luxury -– it is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.” But “college for all” is a hot topic right now.

Some educators argue that not everyone wants to go to college, or will necessarily succeed in college, and policy makers need to define success more broadly beyond academic achievement tests and AP tests and include valuing job-ready skills in students. Instead of making vocational education and career and technical education an option in high schools, Obama wants to address job training by creating partnerships between community colleges and businesses to train Americans with specific skills that lead directly to jobs. As of now, Mr. Obama believes business leaders can’t find American workers with the right skills to hire.

In terms of teachers, the Huffington Post reports that both the leaders of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association were pleased with the speech. Obama spoke about the role a teacher plays in changing students’ lives, quoting a Harvard study that said that a good teacher can increase the lifetime income of a classroom by $250,000. He said schools should have flexibility to reward good teachers and replace ineffective teachers.

Suspension Should Not Be The Only Option

rgee — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:31:37 -0600

The video below shows journalist Roland Martin interviewing Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project, about new data showing that black students are being suspended at higher rates than others. The data comes from a study done by the Yale University Child Study Center.

The study shows that black students, no matter their income receive less attention, harsher punishments, and lower marks in school than white students.

Watching this video made me think about the challenges that I, as well as my siblings, faced in school. There could have been other ways to help us or discipline us, but our schools weren’t aware of them.

Dianis says, “Our schools are not using common sense when it comes to the behavior of children.” I agree 100 percent. There are times when suspension is unnecessary.

My little brother, who is 13 years old, was suspended for five days for play-fighting a block away from his school. He and the other student were having fun after class off-campus, but still got suspended. What happened to calling a child’s parents? Is that method not valuable anymore? I expected someone to call my mama or at least give my brother a warning, but suspension is what they had in mind.

I feel worried for my brother and other black students. They’re becoming part of a static based on skin color. My brother is a bright student so I hope this suspension doesn’t mess up his reputation and cause teachers to look down on him, like Dianis says in the interview.

There are many solutions to disciplining students without suspending them. Counselors play a big role in youth development--so why not use them? There are a lot of students who walk around all day with burdens on their chest; no one understands them and lashing out is the only thing that feels right to them. What they really need is for someone to listen and help them along the way.

Sometimes I think back on my high school days and how absent my mind was from school. I wish I had had counselors who were actually worried or cared that I wasn’t graduating on time. I wished they talked to me more and encouraged me to do better because at that time, that’s all I really needed to hear.

Another suggested solution I feel strongly about is the school and parent partnership. Parents are as responsible as the school when it comes to teaching and developing a child’s behavior. It takes a supportive parent to help a child focus in school. I was a student who didn’t have that, or help from counselors. So I feel strongly about parents and counselors being there and encouraging a student through school.

What Now?

rgee — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:17:16 -0600

This story was originally published on L.A. Youth.

Author's name not given to protect their identity.

I’ve always worked hard in school because I want to go to college and be successful. But because I’m not a citizen, my hard work could be for nothing. My parents don’t have the money to pay for college and I can’t get federal financial aid because I don’t have a Social Security number. In October, Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Dream Act, which will allow undocumented students like me to get financial help to attend public colleges in California. This made me feel hopeful for my future. However, the state Dream Act doesn’t provide a path to citizenship. Even if I graduate from college, would I have to work in a low-wage job? Will my status prevent me from obtaining my dream job as a journalist?

I think it’s really unfair that I can’t get the same opportunities as a citizen. I grew up here like any other student. Some people say that undocumented immigrants are criminals because they came here illegally. But I don’t consider myself a criminal because it wasn’t my choice to come here. My parents brought me here because they believed they could provide a better education and a better life for me and my sister.

When I was 2 my parents left my older sister and me with my grandma and came to the United States. They were trying to give us a better life than what they had in Mexico. We were living in a small one-room house and my sister and I were sharing a bed with our parents. Their plan was to live in the United States for a few years and then return to Mexico once they made enough to buy a house in Mexico, pay for our education and open a business. But they stayed because they weren’t able to make enough money. We were brought to the United States right before I turned 3 and my sister was 5 because my mother missed us and she couldn’t bear being apart from us. Three years later my little sister was born here and a few years after that my brother was born.

Once I was here for a few years I forgot about Mexico and the United States became my home. I liked McDonalds for the toys in the Happy Meals. One of my favorite things to do was watch cartoons, like Ren & Stimpy, Looney Toons and Animaniacs. I didn’t know English but the TV shows were helping me learn it.

When we were young my mother would tell us to do well in school so we wouldn’t end up like her and my father. I don’t think they understood that attending college was hard if you’re undocumented. They worked as street vendors. They’d wake up at 3 a.m. to prepare the champurrado, a drink like hot chocolate. They’d leave the house at 6 a.m., carrying the champurrado and heavy pots full of tamales. They’d get home at 10 a.m., rest and then prepare for the next day. They always seemed busy buying ingredients and making the tamales. But they still dedicated time to my sister and me. They’d wake us up and get us ready for school. My mom would take us to school with her cart full of tamales.

My mom pushed us to work hard

After I got home from school I would finish my homework and go outside to play with my friends. When my mother saw me playing she’d tell me to come inside and read a book or do extra math problems.She would tell us that nobody’s born smart and we need to study and that’s how you become successful.

I wasn’t aware that I was illegal until fifth grade. We took a trip to Mexico because my aunt was getting married. Coming back, my younger sister got on the plane with our relatives who were born in the United States. My parents had to cross the border illegally and me and my older sister went through the car line with someone my parents knew. They told us it was because we didn’t have the same papers my sister had. We had to pretend we were sleeping. When the Border Patrol agents stopped us and looked inside the car, I felt my heart beating fast, hoping that they wouldn’t ask us questions. I knew that if we got caught we would be sent back to Mexico and we wouldn’t be with our parents. When we got away from San Diego I felt relieved.

Even though that was a scary experience, I never thought that being undocumented would affect me. I just thought it meant that I couldn’t travel to other countries and go back to the United States. I didn’t understand that not having papers meant you aren’t a legal U.S. citizen. I always thought I was a citizen because I was living here.

I started realizing in middle school that being illegal meant you had to be careful or else you’ll get deported. The news would talk about ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids at workplaces and how the undocumented workers were deported back to their home countries.

Also in middle school my mom started talking to us about college. She always said that she would be the happiest mother in the world if she could see her children at a university like UCLA or Harvard, which were the schools she’d heard about. I really wanted to go to college because I knew it was important. My mother would say to my older sister and me, “Hopefully Congress will pass the DREAM Act someday and you’ll be a citizen.” I didn’t understand what the DREAM Act was or that being a citizen helped you pay for college.

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How could my family afford college without financial aid?

When my sister started looking at colleges when I was in 10th grade, I’d overhear her and my parents arguing. They saw that Congress wasn’t going to pass the DREAM Act soon so they were trying to persuade her to go to Mexico for college since they didn’t have the money to pay for college in the United States. My parents said, “You won’t be able to get a loan from the government.” My sister argued that she’d be able to get private scholarships. I realized that she couldn’t get financial aid because she was illegal. It confused me since my parents had always told us to work hard and we’d be able to have a better life in the United States, but now they were telling my sister to go to Mexico to pursue a better life.

My sister wanted to be an environmental scientist, which is why she chose Northland College, a small private school in Wisconsin that focuses on environmental science. They offered her $14,000 in scholarships to help her pay the tuition and housing costs, which were about $32,000 a year. They also offered her a job to work at the college but she didn’t get it. My parents assumed it was because she lacked a Social Security number. It seemed unfair because the school had offered her the job and she was relying on it to help her pay for college. It meant my parents had to pay more but they didn’t have that kind of money.

My parents had to pay $1,000 every month but it was difficult and they had to borrow money from friends and my uncle. At the end of my sister’s first year of school, they owed $7,000 but they didn’t know where to get the money. My sister had to return home without getting her report card since my parents didn’t pay the bill.

My parents gave her a decision to make—to pay for her college herself or go to Mexico. She knew that she couldn’t come up with the money because without a Social Security number, she couldn’t get a job. So she went to Mexico to live with our relatives and study there.

I was sad that my sister had left but I wasn’t worrying about what I would do about college because it still seemed far away.

But in 11th grade, people started talking about their dream colleges. I felt it was unfair that I wouldn’t be able to go to college here. My parents pay taxes when they buy food and clothes. I’ve been here my whole life, so why can’t I continue my education in this country? If I go to Mexico I’d feel sad not being close to my family.

When the DREAM Act was introduced in Congress again my mom talked to me about it. She’d watch the news and saw that there was no support for it in Congress. She’d say, “You see what’s happening? This is why you should go to Mexico.” I wanted to stay in the U.S. but I wouldn’t say anything because she seemed right.

I wanted to find out more about the DREAM Act so I Googled it. I learned that it’s a proposed bill in Congress that would allow undocumented students who have been in the United States for at least five years, who graduated from high school or got a GED (the high school equivelancy exam) and don’t have a criminal record, to become legal U.S. residents. They could apply for federal financial aid and work legally. After completing two years of college or military service they could apply for citizenship.

We won’t be a burden if we’re given a chance to succeed

Even though I knew that most of the people in Congress didn’t support the DREAM Act, it was still disappointing that it didn’t get passed. I don’t think that it will cost the country money. It’ll be a boost to our economy because undocumented students will be able to work. They’ll be able to pay taxes and will not be a burden on the government because they can provide for themselves. I understand the people who say that the DREAM Act is helping someone who has broken the law but I don’t agree because I didn’t have a choice to come here.

I felt like my only option was to go to college in Mexico, until this summer when I attended a science research program at USC. A speaker from a low-income family said he got a full ride from Harvard. I thought that only the government gave you money for college. I realized I could receive private aid from a college and not depend on the government. Later, one of my mentors said I could go to a community college, which wouldn’t cost as much, while I waited for the DREAM Act to pass. I decided I would stay in the United States.

But when I told my mother, she brought up the same arguments as always. She said I won’t be able to get a job when I graduate. She told me she’d be heartbroken if she saw me working illegally like my dad. I felt discouraged and scared that I wouldn’t have any other options than to go to Mexico.

When senior year began, I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to stay here but I felt that going to college in the United States was out of reach. How would I pay for college? What would I do after college? But if I go to Mexico, when will I see my family again? Will I be able to return to the United States and work here? In Mexico I hear it’s really dangerous to be a journalist.

Then one Sunday in October I read that Gov. Brown signed the California Dream Act (which is different from the federal DREAM Act). The state Dream Act allows undocumented students to get financial aid from California public colleges. The news was exciting. I felt like the struggles of undocumented students were finally being heard.

Now that the California Dream Act has passed, I’ve decided I’m going to stay here. I told my parents and they told me about a scholarship they had heard about. I felt like they were supporting my decision to stay in the United States for college. I’ve been researching schools to see which ones offer journalism. And I’m hoping that Congress will pass the federal DREAM Act while I’m in college. If they do, undocumented students won’t have to worry as much about how to pay for college and what they’re going to do once they graduate. They’ll be much more motivated to go to college, knowing that the American dream exists for them.