Students Face a Tough Fight Here at Home

It’s the end of another semester. This time when I hug a student goodbye, I wish her luck as she heads off to an actual war, the one in Iraq. Yet over the years, I’ve wished many students luck as they have gone into battle much closer to home. Some of the conflicts they face include increased competition for admission to four-year universities, the struggle to make ends meet as college fees increase, little or no family support and violence-ridden neighborhoods.

Teaching at a community college has opened my eyes to the countless students who fight to stay in class. For many it’s just the difficulty of long bus rides to get to class on time. But for others, like one gifted young man with a blue bandanna who came to class with headphones on, it is the struggle to fight his way free from the South L.A. streets where his father had been killed in a drive-by shooting and his older brother had succumbed to gang life. A Salvadoran immigrant talks about being haunted by his aunt, who disappeared on her way to the U.S. Another young woman from Venice was grappling with the trauma of having witnessed a fatal shooting in front of her apartment.

Many of these students are from public schools that have failed to prepare them for college work. (Some have been held back unnecessarily, such as one young Latina with excellent English language skills who for more than a year asked to test out of the ESL program.) I witness these students’ frustration as they concentrate on composing sentences, paragraphs and essays, determined to overcome their lack of preparedness.

The state’s budget woes in recent years have hit these students hard. They may have dodged a bullet because fees are not expected to rise this fall -- they have more than doubled in the last two years -- but there is still uncertainty. Many students now take fewer classes because of these increases, taking longer to earn their degrees. And for those planning to transfer, the UC and CSU fees are increasing while state financial aid awards are being decreased.

Instead of a refuge, higher education has become another combat zone where students are often the victims. How many battles can we expect our young people to endure without finally giving up hope? If they are our future, and if the economic success of this state depends upon our investment in them, shouldn’t we provide support instead of obstacles?