This Is Why We Can’t Read
The following open letter was signed by the Los Angeles High School seniors in teacher Kevin Glynn’s advanced placement government and economics class.
We are tired. So tired.
Many of us are up before dawn, rubbing sleepy eyes as we trudge toward buses that, if they do not first pass us by, carry us to distant destinations long before most of you are awake. Once at school, some of us wolf down a tasteless cafeteria meal before classes begin; others head to the vending machines to buy junk food before the bell rings at 7:35 a.m.; most of us listen to our stomachs growl until 11:15 a.m. when we burst through classroom doors to forage what we can in the half-hour break we have before we grab heavy backpacks (as there are not enough lockers) and are herded back to classrooms by security personnel barking orders through bullhorns. Maybe there was time to go to the bathroom (remembering to bring our own toilet paper), maybe there was time to play (probably not).
Three more classes until the last bell rings our redemption at 3:05 p.m. We surge past the gates, past the guards, heedless of traffic, some toward home, some toward work, some to be swallowed up by the vast city that surrounds us.
Education seems to be the issue in America this year. President Bush has declared it his No. 1 priority. Every educational expert, professor, psychologist, politician and pundit seems to have something to offer why we, the benighted objects of such wisdom, can’t read, write, calculate or assimilate. Despite all the scratching of so many wise heads, nobody seems to be able to figure out what the problem is. Low expectations? Bilingual education? Standardized testing? Lack of accountability?
You, the adults out there, remain clueless. The real problem is that you have not asked us. As far as we are concerned, the reasons are simple and the solutions are clear. If only you would listen.
School begins too early. Most of us start the school day tired. We need our sleep. How can we be expected to learn anything when many of us are working when most of you are shuffling around in your pajamas? Start school at a reasonable hour.
We need a decent breakfast. We also need guidance and encouragement. This cannot be done in the dark rushing out the door.
How can you blame us for doing poorly as students when you are doing poorly as parents? You should insist on the right to be good parents. If your employers complain when you have to go to a parent-teacher conference, tell them that most juvenile crime and delinquency would disappear if only the adults would take charge of their children.
Build more schools. It is hard to learn when you have no desk to sit in much less no textbook to read. If you say that education is important, then prove it. We don’t need more strip malls, video arcades, food courts, or movie theaters for our future. There are already more than enough of those. Instead, we need room to grow physically, mentally and spiritually.
Not only do we need more schools but we need schools we can be proud of. We do not like the current model of industrial-style education, where schools are kept open year-round, day and night, to “optimize and maximize” the facilities for a “better return on investment.”
As a result the buildings are exhausted and falling apart from constant use. The custodians can never keep up. Give us a school in good shape, with trees and grass instead of concrete and broken glass and most of us will try to take care of it, to make it a place that we will want to come back to and support rather than try to get away from as soon as we can.
Building more schools to meet the increase in student population coupled with a return to the traditional calendar would give everyone a chance to relax, talk things out over the summer and get ready for September together.
Set a good example. How can you tell us that education is important when you spend most of your time in front of the television? How can we do our homework when you want us to do chores instead and then get mad at us for poor grades? Why do you want us to try harder when you have given up on yourselves? Let’s see you reading a book once in a while. Let’s hear you talk about current events at the dinner table rather than rushing off to watch television. Take us to a museum instead of a movie. Call our teachers, go to conferences, bug the principal. We can’t do it alone.
Do the right thing. We’ll trust you to do your job, and if you do, then you can trust us to do ours. After all, you’re the adults in this situation. You’re the ones who got us into this mess. It’s up to you to get us out.
