Schools Suffer From Neglect

I couldn’t agree more with Harold Hodgkinson’s call for a need to “rebuild” the schools and education in California, as expressed in his article (Opinion, May 31), “California Schools Suffer From a Decade of Neglect.”

As an elementary teacher in Los Angeles who previously taught in Colorado, I have been appalled at the lower quality of education in this state. Let me mention some comparisons I have seen in my own teaching experience.

In the semi-rural district I worked for in Colorado one resource specialist (who works with learning disabled students) served a school of 400 students. In Los Angeles one resource specialist serves 800 to 1,000 students. In Colorado each school of 400 students had a half-time remedial reading teacher. In Los Angeles many schools have no remedial teacher. Each school in Colorado also provided the service of a half-time speech therapist for 400 children. Here the same amount of speech therapist time again serves 800 to 1,000 students.

Not to mention that in Colorado the children benefited from weekly classes with a specialized art and music teacher. Here I teach my own art and music (untalented as I am in these two areas). Having music and art teachers not only provided a quality education in the arts, but the regular classroom teacher used that pupil-free time to plan lessons. In Los Angeles, elementary teachers have no planning time.

Hodgkinson is right. This state, with all its ethnic diversity and educational needs that come with it, should have the smallest class size in the country. Conversely, my class size is, on the average, larger that it was in Colorado. Yet, all of my students are just learning to speak English, a few of them never had schooling before second or third grade, and most of them are reading below grade level.

I am responsible for teaching them a new language, providing all instruction in both languages, teaching all 13 curriculum areas, remediating the ones who are behind, and raising test scores. Not to mention, education values, drug education, raising their self-esteem, and encouraging them to be good, productive citizens. I’m not complaining; I love my job! But the truth is, as Hodgkinson states, teachers cannot do it alone. We need the support of the state and all the citizens of California. Remember, the future of California, our nation, and the world rests in the hands of our children. Let’s give them a chance! They deserve it and so do we!

CARLI SIMONS

North Hollywood