Lagging support

I remember being detained for safety reasons at my elementary school during the Chicano walkouts at neighboring Wilson High School in 1968. Then, as a senior at the same Wilson High in 1978, I remember a guidance counselor herding large groups of Latino students, including myself, into a room and tossing community and trade college applications at us, despite my saying I wanted to attend a university. I was accepted at Cal State L.A. shortly thereafter. With escalating dropout rates in the Los Angeles Unified School District, I can only assume that negative and uninterested counselors continue to break the spirits of high school students, contributing to an overall crisis in our public education system.

CAROLYN AGUAYO

South Pasadena

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AGUSTIN GURZA’S article really rang a memory bell.

In my opinion, the poor quality of college counseling in East Los Angeles in the ‘60s was not due to racial prejudice but counselor incompetence. The college counseling at Garfield High School in 1961, which this former honor student growing up Jewish in the barrio received, was the same as that described in the story. I was told that I would not be able to “make it” at UCLA.

Some time around 1967, I confronted my former high school counselor about her prior advice. She simply claimed she was misunderstood. One might wonder how she could have remembered what her then-6-year-old advice was unless she gave similar advice to everyone.

In 1965, I received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from UCLA and, in 1970, I received a JD from UCLA School of Law.

LES GREENBERG

Culver City