LAUSD Requirements Do Not Serve Students

This is the first year that Los Angeles Unified School District high school students will not be allowed to graduate without fulfilling the mandate/requirement of one year of “technical arts.” This could be woodshop, photography, auto repair, etc., and this undefined requirement can no longer be substituted with a “foreign” (Spanish, hello?) language.

Foreign language, three years of which is required by colleges, is no longer required by the Los Angeles school district.

Unfortunately, the school district has not allocated enough time, funds, space or teachers for students to take these classes on its campuses during the school day.

To fulfill the requirement, students are being counseled by the hundreds, perhaps thousands, to take these classes at adult school in the evenings or at community colleges. When we as parents, teachers and counselors are struggling to improve our students’ basic academic skills, as well as coping with the massive budget cuts in all schools in California, how can we justify students paying their own tuition, or spending their study time at night, taking classes that in most cases are unnecessary? This technical subject should be an elective and not a requirement.

It affects those who need or want these classes as well, because there are fewer available spaces in the overcrowded classrooms.

This mandate, which for many becomes an unfunded mandate, is indefensible in these times. It is counterproductive to our larger educational goals and possibly illegal. It must be rescinded as a high school graduation requirement.

Catherine Railton

Los Angeles