LAUSD Lacking in Many Areas of Reform
I am a firm believer in dialogue as a means to gain clarity about a particular issue. Usually it takes place with the understanding that resolution can be obtained. However, the dialogue about why our students in the Los Angeles Unified School District are not as successful as they should be seems to be useless. The experts switch from one controversial issue to another. I question whether this is part of a strategy to keep parents and others distracted and confused while they reward themselves with enviable pay raises.
It is obvious that a significant part of the dialogue is missing. As I see it, there are three social settings critical to a student’s ability to do well. Family life, school and community in partnership provide the formal and informal educational curriculum. Parents are not concerned with only one aspect of the child. Parents want and deserve a whole, productive individual. The experts give only lip service to this idea.
If school administrators and teachers truly care about the whole person they call student, then why do they continually perpetuate an “us” and “them” mentality. Even in model programs such as LEARN or charter schools, teachers and administrators see themselves as the all-knowing experts, the professionals. Little value is placed on the parents’, students’ or community’s ability to contribute meaningful information, without a major struggle.
We are faced with individuals steeped in yesterday’s models and traditions but talking about reform, inclusion and parental involvement. I witnessed an amazing struggle between parents and teachers over whether elementary-school-age children from various grade levels should be allowed to play together at recess. The struggle seemed to center on what “experts” thought was best, but the issue, if it can be called that, was just kids wanting to be social in ways we should be encouraging them to learn to be. I could not help but wonder how these seemingly caring adults would feel if every moment of their day were structured by others, without regard for their feelings.
This same mentality exists among administrators responsible for some of the best written plans for educational reform. I would give them the same grade our children are getting on state standardized tests, when it comes to practicing what they preach. In the categories of implementation of new ideas, cooperative learning, inclusion on many levels, and parental involvement as defined with parents, LAUSD “needs help.”
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The LEARN philosophy is great. To take our children out of private school was a big adjustment, but my husband and I thought it was worth it to give LEARN a shot. But when Mike Roos, the founder of the LEARN philosophy, put his child in private school, it at first confused me and many others. Ultimately, it sent a message. There is always a reasonable explanation given for such high-level hypocrisy, and we are all expected to “understand.” In this case, unfortunately, I am certain that I do.
