When I Was in School . . . : Did Parents Really Have It Tougher? A Mother and Daughter Compare Notes

Parents have always told their children how tough it was when they went to school: more homework, meaner teachers, longer walks home. But these days, the kids may claim to have it harder, especially with budget cuts, more gang activity and, for those in year-round classes, the end of traditional summer vacation.

Times Staff Writer Gary Libman talked with Patricia Gaston, 37, and her daughter Alanicia, 15, about changes in life at Crenshaw High. Patricia, a secretary at the Miracle Baptist Church in Los Angeles, enrolled at Crenshaw when it opened in 1968 and graduated in 1971. Alanicia is a 10th-grader at the school at 50th Street just east of Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles.

What’s the difference between school then and now?

PATRICIA: A classroom is a reflection of the home. When we walked in, teachers were respected. If the teacher said: “Be quiet,” we got quiet. Otherwise, I knew that I was going to be in trouble with my mother and father.

ALANICIA: When it’s time to do the work, we do it. But it’s still noisy. It’s a very talkative class. I wish that parents would discipline their children more. Because then we wouldn’t have to call security to calm them down.

During my third period, the teacher has to kick people out. Because, first of all, they don’t bring their materials to class, so they can’t do their work. They just sit there and get smart with her. One of my friends was threatening to beat her up. I had to tell her to get out of class and cool down.

PATRICIA: A teacher today needs a medal of valor. The largest class I can remember being in was 22 students. (Now) they have 35 to 40 children in a class, and the teacher stands there minus a major tool--a textbook. We had at least one book for every class, and for some classes we had two. A lot of times, I’d have 10 to 12 books a semester.

ALANICIA: I only have one book, which is for Spanish. My geometry teacher copies materials from a textbook for us, and my biology teacher puts notes on the board for us to copy into a notebook, which makes it like a handwritten textbook.

PATRICIA: These children have a lot more to contend with. I didn’t know what a gun looked like until I was a grown woman. She can identify several kinds already.

Because you’ve seen them on campus?

ALANICIA: Yes. I don’t say every day. It’s just, like, you know somebody is carrying one. Like this girl carries one every day.

How do you know that?

ALANICIA: I’ve seen it. It’s in her book bag. But in this school, sometimes you need protection.

PATRICIA: That’s a big difference. An extreme difference. When I was in school, guys fought with their fists. Every now and then you might see a pocket knife or a switchblade.

ALANICIA: Fighting is still like that (but now there are guns on campus).

Do they have guards watching for weapons?

ALANICIA: Yes, but the boys wear three T-shirts and they put the gun in their pants, so you can’t really tell it’s there. Or they put on big jackets and put the pistols in there.

Your mother says you were robbed near school?

PATRICIA: She was robbed (this fall) at 52nd Street and 11th Avenue on the corner of the campus. Some guys who don’t go to Crenshaw walked up on her with guns and stole a gold chain with a charm with her nickname, ‘Nisha, and a gold-link necklace.

ALANICIA: I’d been in school about a month. I feel that somebody had been watching me or I had been set up by someone who knew me. I play JV basketball and I was coming from practice and the jewelry was inside my sweat shirt. So the sun wasn’t shining on it and making it obvious. The next thing I knew I looked up and three guys were saying: “I’m sorry, baby, you’ll have to give up the gold,” without even being able to see that I was wearing it.

Some boys (who) had said they would walk me home, they wanted to fight the robbers. The robbers said: “This is Rolling 60s (a Crips gang).” They raised their shirts so we could see they had guns tucked into their pants. I told the boys that it’s not worth your lives to go after the jewelry.

Were you angry about the robbery?

ALANICIA: I wasn’t angry; I was scared. They could have shot me. They could have raped me. I was thankful I had my life.

Has this changed your behavior around school?

ALANICIA: I don’t walk home anymore.

PATRICIA: I pick her up.

Did you have thefts at school?

PATRICIA: We were told never to leave anything valuable in our locker. We didn’t because we never had anything that expensive.

My daughter has a book bag that says “Black Princess” on it. It’s leather and suede. She’s the only girl in the school who has that bag. She told me she never sets it down or leaves it anywhere because if she turns her back, it’ll be gone.

What about drugs?

PATRICIA: (I went to school) back in the hippie times. There was LSD and amphetamines and barbiturates on campus. Every now and then we heard security had arrested someone for selling drugs on campus. But it wasn’t the majority of the students. Just one bad apple.

ALANICIA: The most common drug now seems to be marijuana. You can come out of your class and (sometimes) the air you breathe has that smell.

What about gangs, then and now?

PATRICIA: We had gangs called the Slausons and Slausonettes. They kind of hung together. They let you know that if you messed with somebody in their group, they’d beat you up.

They did things that I knew I’d have gotten killed for by my parents--like stealing cars. We let them hang by themselves. But there wasn’t any rivalry between one gang and the other.

ALANICIA: The Crips are the main gang on campus, and blue is their color. You don’t wear red. You just make yourself a target. If I wear red, it will have to be mixed in with something else.

How else do you dress?

ALANICIA: We’re into the baggy clothes. And Army shoes. The type of tennis shoes that I would have said at least three years ago, “I’m not wearing those. Those are my uncle’s shoes.” I know you guys used to pay $10 for them. Now they cost almost $30.

For tops we wear T-shirts, but the T-shirt should be long. Sometimes you purposely wear two. We wear red, black, green and yellow. We like African clothes and going back to our roots.

PATRICIA: I wore bell-bottom jeans and moccasins and had a suede coat with fringes. I had patches everywhere that said “peace.” There were miniskirts, psychedelic colors, white lipstick and big earrings.

What was your social life like?

PATRICIA: Crenshaw had dances. Serious dances. Every Friday night. And I was at every one of them. When you came outside, your clothes were soaking wet because it was so hot in there.

We took Alanicia to her homecoming dance this fall. It was at the Proud Bird restaurant. The dance was over at 12. When I picked her up, I saw four or five police cars in the parking lot, which I was thankful for because they were providing security. We never had that at our dances.

She goes to all the football games. She has this boyfriend who plays football. Her father and I go with her most of the time. We remarked about how many police officers cruise around school to protect the students.

(Outside of school) I went to the Nu Pike amusement park in Long Beach and to the Pacific Ocean Park. Other than that, I went to drive-in movies.

ALANICIA: I go to the mall. And to movies. I like to dance. I like Hammer. I love him more than anyone. I also like Jodeci and Boyz II Men.

PATRICIA: (I liked) Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. I pretty much listened to the Motown sound.

And during vacations?

PATRICIA: I had the summers off.

ALANICIA: I’m in a year-round school. I am out Dec. 20 until Feb. 14, and July 1 until Aug. 16.

PATRICIA: It’s the pits! (Alanicia’s younger sister is off at different times.) My husband is a Greyhound bus driver. He’s gone the majority of the time. It’s hard to coordinate a family activity. I understand they’re trying to keep the schools from being crowded. But I don’t see where it’s making any difference. She’s got 40 kids in her class. So where is it helping?