Today’s Topic : Students see schools’ problems clearly, but what are the underlying causes?

Proposition 187, which if upheld would deny public education to illegal immigrant children in California, continues to unsettle campuses across the state. Although the proposal is tied up in the courts and most educators are taking a wait-and-see attitude toward it, many students are genuinely concerned.

In today’s Youth Opinion, a group of high school newspaper editors report that Proposition 187 is one of the hottest topics of discussion in the public schools. The issue is dividing campuses and raising unsettling questions for schools with large immigrant populations.

Proposition 187 is not, however, the only flash point for today’s students. These youngsters cite concerns that range from overcrowded classrooms to inadequate library facilities, problems that result from another voter-approved law: the tax-slashing Proposition 13, passed in 1978.

Proposition 13’s reduction in property tax receipts has brought California down to 32nd among the 50 states in per-pupil spending, according to U.S. Department of Education figures for the 1993-94 school year.

Still, educators at the forefront of the movement to reform the state’s schools do not focus on the lack of resources when discussing ways to improve the educational system.

“It’s too easy to throw up our hands and say the sky is falling,” says Mary Kay Tetreault, vice president for academic affairs at Cal State Fullerton. “I think people who are pessimistic haven’t gone into a classroom recently and seen what teachers are doing.”

Of course, no one is suggesting that problems don’t exist. But educators are recognizing that increased spending is out of the question. As a result, many public schools are looking at ways to make more of available resources and renew confidence in public education.

“Every single function of the school system must be focused on improved student learning,” says Mary Chambers, executive vice president of LEARN, an innovative program adopted by the Los Angeles Unified School District that encourages more autonomy for schools.

“These high school students are listing the symptoms of the problem,” Chambers says. “Decisions about the library, open or closed campuses, organization of the school day, those decisions ought to be made by people who have to carry them out and be accountable for the results.”

Still, some educators caution that it is important to set realistic goals for the public school system, which means accepting that not all children can, or even should, seek an academic degree.

“We’d like to think that we can successfully influence every student into believing they can go to college,” says Shel Erlich, a spokesman for the LAUSD. But “it’s a little ambitious for society to believe that we as a school district can do that for every student,” he adds. “We need to see that the children in our schools have goals that will put them in the mainstream of our economy, whether they go to college or not.”