Mission College Cutbacks

Are we insane? After decades of struggle, Mission College finally has a top-of-the-line library, a brand new campus that was outgrown before it even opened and hundreds of eager new students from the fastest-growing area of L.A. County, so the powers that be have decided to eliminate hundreds of classes.

No amount of fiscal mumbo-jumbo can rationalize such a foolish decision. As an LAUSD high school teacher, I’m not even surprised.

No matter how much lip service we pay to educational reform, the reality is that our society will not support education for everyone.

There is simply no investment in empowering immigrants and low-income people of color to gain the skills and knowledge that will give them a real voice in their own destinies, and the direction of society as a whole.

It seems as if, on the verge of the millennium, education has not yet attained the status of a basic right. The decimation of Mission College is another milestone on our heedless march to the suicide of democracy.

NORAH CUNNINGHAM

Pacoima

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* We tell our children, stay in school, go to college, get a degree. Follow your dreams. Then we cut the classes they need to graduate.

We have a beautiful campus, a brand new library with computers for student use, a staff of teachers that really seems to care about its students [and] 30% growth.

So what do they do--instead of providing the money to keep the campus growing--the board of trustees is going to cut back classes.

Does that make sense? If I had a business that grew by 30%, I certainly wouldn’t cut back, I would be expanding and letting it grow.

JACQUELINE C. RAMON

Granada Hills