What If We Expect Kids to Succeed?

I recently received considerable attention in my home community of Oxnard for being the first Latina to receive the highest honor given a graduating senior at UC Santa Barbara, the Thomas Moore Storke Award.

Because the award is based on both academic and community service achievements, I have been commended for hard work and dedication, for being a role model and for “choosing” to make a difference.

Although extremely appreciative and honored, I do not want to become a “poster student,” someone to be pointed at by those who say, “If she can do it, you can also do it. If you don’t, it is because you chose not to.” It is only too easy to look at a success story and feel reassured that our educational system is doing an adequate job. It is more uncomfortable to look behind that success and see the dismal reality of our schools.

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I have heard too many times that students do not want to learn, that they and their families are not interested in pursuing higher education, or that higher education is simply not a reality for most of them. I would like to refocus our community’s attention away from what students are not doing and toward what our schools are not doing.

Although it is true that we as individuals are responsible for our own paths, no one does anything by herself. I was lucky enough to have been helped by my family, by a community youth group and to be tracked through school as a college-bound student.

Yet even with all this, I found the road to college difficult.

In my high school, I often found myself lost, confused and ignorant of information I needed. Even though I was a college-prep and honors student, I received little direction or guidance. At Hueneme High School, the emphasis was on graduating and on absence and tardiness policies. Only a few dedicated counselors and teachers ever talked about college. As a whole, the school did very little to motivate or inform students about college. I remember my frustration when I could not get a University of California application because the career center was rarely open, or when the same 20 students were called out for every college workshop at the school. It was not until I arrived at the university and learned of other students’ experiences that I realized I had been deprived of a good high school education.

I came to feel very fortunate that I had even made it to the university. If it had not been for my parents’ support, Future Leaders of America and those few teachers, I might have fallen into our educational structure’s many crevices. I came to wonder about other students, especially those who were not tracked into college prep or honors classes, and about what their high school experiences had been.

I made it a priority to act on my experiences and involved myself in outreach efforts to high school students, such as conferences, workshops and visits to classrooms.

Thinking that student feedback would be welcome and useful, I also met with the Hueneme High principal. I left that meeting even more upset and disillusioned about our schools. After I had spoken to her for some time, she stopped me and began to talk. I was told of a “great” program that had just started called School to Work, in which students could choose from different vocations. I explained to her that such a program was fine as an alternative but questioned whether a “school-to-school” program would not make more sense as a priority. She told me we had to think in “realistic terms” about “these” students, as most of them had to work to help their families and that if they had the opportunity, they could later go to a community college. I was one of “those” students, and if I had listened to people like her I would have never gotten to where I am today.

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This is only one example of many experiences that assured me that our educational system is not built with the intention of encouraging kids to pursue a higher education.

Yes, there are programs and teachers who are truly committed to students, but unfortunately they exist within a structure that sets very limited expectations for them. This attitude becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the Oxnard Union High School District’s statistics on graduates makes evident.

Among the district’s 1998 graduates, only 15.5% went to a four-year college or university. Hueneme High School sent only about 6% of its graduates--23 out of 400 students. Our community should be appalled.

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Another disconcerting fact: Only about 37% of the district’s 1998 graduates met Cal State University or University of California course-work requirements. This means that at graduation the other 63% could not choose (remember that word?) to go off to one of these four-year universities because they were not allowed that choice. Oxnard Union’s goal is to get just 50% of its graduates to meet CSU and UC requirements.

There will always be students who do not wish to or cannot continue their educations after high school. And many others, for various reasons, will attend community college and then transfer or will train for a specific job. That is all fine and commendable. However, why not raise the standards of our schools so that most, if not all, students are prepared with a high level of education and information so that when graduation does come around, they can truly choose their paths?

Since the founding of the Oxnard Economic Development Corp. in 1994, our city has seen an immense growth of businesses and industries. These are welcome as they add to our economy and create job opportunities. Yet too many of the jobs available through these industries require little education and low-skill or unskilled workers. It seems that these industries have found a convenient match in Oxnard. In the EDC president’s own words, Oxnard has “a ready work force with a strong work ethic.” Why not prepare Oxnard Union students with the opportunity to be the managers, engineers, accountants, etc. at these businesses instead of the blue-collar workers?

It is ironic that a big focus in our community is crime and how to prevent it. Especially around election time, we hear about gang-prevention programs and about funding to fight crime. Why not do all that we can to prevent crime by strengthening our educational system?

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I realize that I have harshly criticized the Oxnard Union High School District and that my tone is accusatory. My intention is not to create anger or defensiveness but to bring this important issue to light in hopes of encouraging discussion and solutions.

As someone who has “made it” and has been commended as a role model, I feel that I have a responsibility to discuss this negative but very real side of my experiences. For our system to truly improve, it must first be critically analyzed.

Education and learning have a direct effect on quality of life, including social ills. Everyone who cares about our community and our future should become informed and involved with our schools.

As Malcolm X said, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.”