Try Adding Real-World Math to the Equation
Everyone I know is talking about The Times’ series on dropouts at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, where only half the class of 2005 graduated on time.
I turn on the radio and hear the chatter. I come to work and the series reporters have e-mails from near and far, fingers pointing in all directions. I hear it from my wife, too, who, if she sees one more photo of a student dead asleep on his desk, is going to run for school board.
No one can be surprised about the high dropout rate, which has plagued big-city districts for decades. But Birmingham is not a bad school; it’s a relatively good one -- at least for the Los Angeles school district. That’s what makes the story all the more depressing. That, and the reminder that dropouts are destined to live at the margins.
Naturally, everyone has a solution (although we haven’t heard one yet from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, despite his plans for a hostile takeover of L.A. Unified).
The problem is the administration.
No, it’s the teachers.
No, it’s the parents.
No, it’s the students.
No, it’s the curriculum.
No, it’s the funding.
No, it’s the culture.
No, it’s the huge number of non-English-speaking students.
Here’s a bulletin:
It’s all of those things and maybe a few more, so anyone who’s peddling simple solutions is a bigger dunce than all the dropouts.
Fixing the schools is a years-long project, and it’ll never happen without a renewed commitment from every one of the players mentioned above.
Despite the grim picture, L.A. Unified has made progress in the face of incredible challenges.
Under Supt. Roy Romer, the district has made slow but steady gains in elementary school test scores, started on a massive school-building campaign and embraced innovations like smaller campuses and new teaching philosophies.
I would like, however, for there to be a new rule beginning today: If a student is sawing logs at his desk, I want him scooped up by a school bouncer (I’ll gladly pay higher taxes to fund the position) and delivered immediately into the arms of his parents, no matter where they are or what they’re doing. The very next day, I want student, teacher and parents in the principal’s office before the morning bell.
One reason for the dropout problem is that kids are flunking algebra. In the fall of 2004, 44% of the district’s 48,000 ninth-graders came up short, and Times reporter Duke Helfand found a Birmingham student who flunked algebra six times.
This is because huge numbers of students can’t do basic math, let alone algebra, which in 2003 became a requirement for graduation in all LAUSD schools. In future years, no one will get a diploma without three years of advanced math.
At the very least, the district should have phased in the existing algebra requirement, beefing up basic math instruction first. But even at that, why force all students to take advanced math courses, driving out those who might never use algebra in the real world?
Sure, good jobs await those who know math and science, and yes, algebraic computations are a mind-expanding exercise. But so is the reading of great books.
We ought to make sure students can take all the trig and calculus they want. But for others, I’d rather see a reality-based math curriculum that prepares students for life, equipping them to balance a checkbook, understand credit card finance charges and challenge the IRS.
Any of this add up for you?
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Reach the columnist at steve.lopez@latimes.com
