An Identity Problem : Students in Dark About Presidents for Whom Schools Are Named

The kids in Caryn Cornell’s after-school detention session had one chance for early release, one shining opportunity to bust out of those doors a full half-hour early.

These teen-agers had already shown they would do anything to beat a detention rap--with baggy-clothed gangbangers once singing “I’m a Little Teapot” in front of the entire group.

Now freedom for the juniors and seniors from James Monroe High School hinged on answering one simple question: Who was their school named after?

“Fifteen kids and nobody knew. Nobody. Their mouths all just dropped open like ‘Duhh,’ ” said Cornell, a dean of discipline at the North Hills school. “It’s not funny, it’s sad. In this classroom, we have pictures of every U.S. President hanging on the wall.

“I even stood there looking up at the photograph of James Monroe, trying to give them a hint, doing everything but shouting out his name. But they didn’t get it. It was like ‘Hello, people! Get to know your Presidents!’ ”

On Presidents Day, as the nation honors its commanders-in-chief both past and present, it appears that many students throughout Los Angeles value dead Presidents only as something they might use to pay off a bet--even those attending one of the dozen local high schools named after a former chief executive.

While some students can cite dates, minor accomplishments and even arcane references to their school’s namesake Presidents, others remain a bit in the dark.

“You mean Cleveland High was named after a former President?” asked Grover Cleveland High junior Mildred Monroy. “I always thought it was named after that city in Canada.”

Some administrators admit they themselves are somewhat clueless as to the finer points of, say, a Ulysses S. Grant, James A. Garfield or John Adams.

“James Monroe may be the namesake of our school, but he wasn’t exactly among our most distinguished Presidents,” said Assistant Principal Alice Parrish. “If someone asked me, I could maybe mention the Monroe Doctrine and not much else, and I’m a history teacher.

“Kids have an even harder time. Their cultural literacy is limited, their historical literacy is nonexistent. If it’s not something in their notes for this Friday’s pop quiz, they don’t want to know about it.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District has long had specific guidelines on how and what it names its schools: Elementary schools are normally named after their street location, junior high and middle schools after notable California figures and high schools after figures of national importance.

That doesn’t mean everyone is pleased with the results. Some teachers and students feel cheated if their namesake was a less than stellar President. School administrators counter that there are only so many George Washingtons, Abraham Lincolns and John F. Kennedys.

Others say school names should have more relevance to the lives of students: Some names suggested in interviews include Bill Clinton High, Kurt Cobain High, Benny Hill High and even O.J. Simpson High.

Standing at her locker, 16-year-old Taft High student Sara Hansen scoffed at the idea of naming her school after some long-dead U.S. President. “It should be named after someone kids know about,” she said. “Anyway, Taft is barely mentioned in the history books. What relevance does he have to my life?”

Last year, Monroe High’s newspaper polled students on whether they wanted to change their school name to either Marilyn Monroe High or Earl (the Pearl) Monroe High--after the former NBA basketball star. By a narrow margin, students opted for the status quo.

Abe Hoffman, a history teacher at William Howard Taft High in Woodland Hills, is waging a one-man campaign to change the school’s namesake to Woodrow Wilson--even though there’s already a Woodrow Wilson High in Lincoln Heights--insisting that administrators and faculty simply messed up in drafting the name Taft back in the 1960s.

“They didn’t have many choices,” he said. “We were already running out of Presidents at that point. All the good names were taken when somebody said ‘Hey, how about ol’ Taft? And so there it was, William Howard Taft.”

In his lively history classes, Hoffman has endeavored to show students Taft’s human side--not only that he was a one-term President who later served as U.S. chief justice, of the U.S. Supreme Court, but that he was also an obese man who loved baseball, one who had to have a White House bathtub specially built to contain his girth.

Some students obviously haven’t gotten the message. “Taft was named after some athlete, wasn’t it?” said 14-year-old student Darryl Botts. “Maybe some leading scorer on the school basketball team.”

Added Erica Kim, 15: “Wasn’t he really fat or something?”

At Theodore Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles, students have numerous reminders of the President their school was named for when it opened back in 1923. A bust of Roosevelt adorns the main office and the hallways are filled with murals of him.

The school’s nickname for its athletic teams gives a further hint: the Roughriders.

But some students shook their heads open-mouthed when asked about their school’s name. “Didn’t he, like, lead us into some kind of a Depression with that thing called the New Deal?” asked one girl, standing in front of a huge Roosevelt mural.

Added Juan Aceituno, 17: “His name was Teodoro. He was a real macho guy who rode around with his roughriders. They were like his soldiers, man.”

Cynthia Santana knows all about Teddy Roosevelt that she needs to know: the way he was responsible for the naming of the teddy bear.

At Cleveland High in Reseda, students were divided on the significance of their school’s name.

Student Micah Lapidus suggested that Grover Cleveland was the only President who wasn’t married while in office. “I don’t know, maybe I’m thinking about somebody else, but I think he used his daughter or niece as hostess for all those stately dinners he threw.”

Lapidus was right on one count. He was thinking of someone else. Cleveland was the first President to be married in the White House, tying the knot with Frances Folsom in 1886.

Dmitry Gozenpud paused and considered Cleveland’s place in history. “I think Grover Cleveland is a good name for a school,” he said. “He was the President right after Lincoln. He was a do-nothing President, you know, he served at a time when Presidents weren’t really that active, during a time when Congress ran the country.

“But, hey, not everyone can be an Abraham Lincoln. The times don’t always call for that.”

It’s a vivid characterization, a fairly accurate one. But that wasn’t Grover Cleveland. That was Andrew Johnson.

Teacher Hoffman said you can’t blame students if they confuse presidential facts because society as a whole doesn’t always value education.

“Students know about educational budget cuts, they look around and see they’re in a cramped room with 40 other kids. Their textbook is falling apart. The windows aren’t washed, the school isn’t painted, the teachers are burned out. And so, they get the message that education is just not that important, including things like deceased Presidents and, last of all, the significance of school names.”

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Presidential Pop Quiz How much do Los Angeles area students know about their schools’ namesake Presidents? Some could name numerous accomplishments, even arcane facts. Others were more in the dark.

Theodore Roosevelt At 42, the youngest President, succeeding William McKinley, who was assassinated. Won the Nobel Prize for negotiating peace between Russia and Japan. *

Years in office: 1901-1909 *

“I know hi. He’s the President who gave us the teddy bear. And I have lots of teddy bears.”-Tina Galvan, 17, Theodore Roosevelt High School

Grover Cleveland His picture appears on $1,000 bills. He was the first President to be married in the White House. The Baby Ruth candy bar was named for his daughter, Ruth. *

Years in office: 1885-1889 and 1893-1897. *

“You mean Cleveland High was named after a President? I always thought it was that city in Canada.”-Mildred Monroy, 16, Grover Cleveland High School

John Adams Succeeded in preventing war with France. His son, John Quincy Adams, the sixth President, was the only son of a President to become President. *

Years in office: 1797-1801 *

“John Adams? He’s dead. That’s all I know.”-Nazrio Carillo, 14, John Adams Middle School

James Monroe Signed the Missouri Compromise. Issued Monroe Doctrine, one of the most important principles of U.S. foreign policy. *

Years in office: 1817-1825 *

“James Monroe was a great man. He was the leader of our country’s isolationist movement and author of the Monroe Doctrine. He told the world we just want to be left alone.”-Travis Wilson, 17, James Monroe High School.

William Howard Taft At more than 300 pounds, the country’s heaviest chief executive. I was said of Taft that hewas so big that he golf knickers weren’t “plus fours,” the were “plus 16s.” *

Years in office: 1909-1913 *

“Wasn’t he the fattest President we ever had?”-Shannon Levy, 15, William Howard Taft High School. Researched by CECLIA RASMUSSEN / Los Angeles Times Studnet photos by RICHARD DE ARATANHA / Los Angeles Times