THE GRADUATES’ VIEWPOINTS : Sizing Up the Schools

Give us attentive teachers. Challenge us more. Bring on more counselors because our lives are more messed up than you think. Take us out of the dark ages in math and science. Above all, listen to us.

This is the blunt, ground-zero advice that members of the Class of 1994 have for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Before nearly 27,000 graduates stepped off the platform last week, The Times asked eight of them to reflect, in their own words, on the highs and lows of their education.

Excerpts of the discussions follow. Making things better, the graduates conclude, has little to do with school district politics, and everything to do with what goes on inside their classrooms.

SYLMAR HIGH SCHOOL

Jennifer Clifford and Armando Alvarez, both 18, say their experience in public school has been just all right. But each leaves Sylmar High School with a vibrant memory--one class with a demanding, challenging teacher.

Clifford plans to attend community college. Alvarez is looking into vocational school or the military.

*

JENNIFER CLIFFORD: A lot of people drop out because they are bored of school. I’m one of the ones who made it.

My education could have been better. I feel that the teachers and counselors need to push you more. Most students don’t set goals. And if they don’t set goals, then they are not going to stay in school. What’s the use of staying in school if you have nothing for the future?

When I was in 10th and 11th grade I was in this program called Humanitas and the students really got involved. The teachers were all good and worked with the students.

We had four classes--science, history, English and humanities--and all the classes studied one theme. The theme that I most remembered was learning about the atomic bomb. We learned history by studying the world wars. We studied how the bomb was made and learned science. Then we made a video and were graded on our presentation.

Education like that is exciting. It’s very rare to have classes like that. I mean, you’re lucky if you get a class like that. Most people I know say ‘I want to get out of here. I want to get out of the class.’ In other classes you just sit there, and you’re bored just looking at the board.

I found 10th and 11th grade were my best years in school.

But they dropped the humanities class in the 11th grade. For the rest of the semester I went into a typing class.

It wasn’t hard for me to stay in school. I set goals when I was in ninth grade. My mom’s a nurse, and my grandma’s a nurse, so I just decided to follow in their footsteps. I’m going to the College of the Canyons for two years for my associate degree, and then go into nursing.

I like it a lot when teachers talk to you individually. Because when they just lecture to the whole class, and they don’t talk to you personally, it seems they just want to get the work done so they can go home.

They just go straight from the book, they use questions from the book, they don’t give good examples. I think teachers should express themselves more in class, let us know what they think instead of just going from the book.

I know that teachers are demoralized because their pay is low. But some care more about their paychecks than us.

Our school doesn’t have much money, either. We don’t get to take books home to study. We have to do it all in class. That means we’re being rushed to do our work.

In one economics class, we had to skip chapters because there wasn’t enough time to explain the whole book. Since we couldn’t read chapters at home, everything had to be done in the class period.

I think about all the things that you didn’t learn.

*

ARMANDO ALVAREZ: What I remember most from elementary school is a science fair. I won first prize

I can’t remember the project now--but I was in fourth grade and my picture came out in the newspaper.

It got me thinking that I was good in science at a young age.

I agree with Jennifer that we need new books, but education depends on students, too. Do they want a great education or do they just want an OK education? If they really want a great education they’ll put all their effort into the work in all their classes.

I could have had a great education if I would have studied more and just paid more attention.

One friend of mine dropped out last month. He just really didn’t care that much anymore. He just stopped going to classes. He’d been ditching a lot. And he just decided to stay home.

Teachers also make a difference. Some of them really want to help you. But some don’t put any effort into their explanations and lots of students just fall asleep. Some teachers just stand there and talk through the whole hour.

I like teachers who talk to you and use their hands, show you examples. They are the ones who make learning better for us. They ask you questions. They make you think.

In our government class, we were having a mock trial. We are the lawyers, the plaintiffs, the jury, everything. I liked it because we’re playing parts in a case about kids who wrote in their school newspaper. It was about the First Amendment. The whole class got involved in it.

The one thing that messed us up was the earthquake. We didn’t come to school for about two weeks. And we never got to finish the trial.

In a way, a lot of teachers just won’t open (up) to us. I guess it’s hard for them because every class has more than 30 students. And they each have five classes.

Education is not like it used to be. I remember in elementary school and junior high we were able to take field trips to museums so we could learn more. Nowadays we really can’t.

In a way I’m kind of scared to leave school. I’ve been in school in the same neighborhood for 13 years, since kindergarten.