The Deconstruction of California's Public Education

In the 1970s I was living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, attending elementary school in a public school system that was literally bankrupt, both morally and financially. We didn't use the school bathrooms because the rats were too big. Mayor Frank Rizzo was in power at the time, and it was quite a show if my memories serve me correctly. My mother was a big public school activist and she took my brother and I along to School Board meetings where Dan Africa of the Move family (anybody remember that episode of Philly history?) often favored us with his profanity-laden performance art. It was quite an education.

The reason I preface my comments with this history is that I also got to see the other side of things during summers when we would visit my Aunt Kathi in Sacramento, California. (My family is originally from Cali; I was born in Woodland while my dad was in grad school at UC Davis.) My mom’s sister was a young schoolteacher straight outta Sac State, and full of enthusiasm and energy for teaching. We would visit her classroom to help her prepare materials for the following year and it was like we were in the promised land of elementary schools. That's what my mom used to say, with a tear in her eye, whenever she came back to her native state, "It's like we're returning to the Promised Land." My aunt's classroom was new and modern, air conditioned even! There was carpeting and the bathrooms had doors on the stalls. She had access to a copying machine, probably a “ditto machine” but I can’t recall. The teachers had supplies at their disposal in a convenient workroom (where I once cut off the tip of my thumb with the paper cutter as I eagerly assisted my aunt, but that’s another story!). And the schoolyard was enormous and beautiful. I thought to myself, “wouldn’t it be great to go to a school like this?” It was like a dream come true.

Now flash forward about 40 years and it’s like it really was just a dream after all. What a difference a few decades makes. Long Beach schools are not in much better shape than the decaying buildings where I learned to read. There are some California public schools in decent condition but the disparity among districts seems symptomatic of a system in the midst of chaotic self-destruction. LBUSD is in financial crisis and Governor Brown is practically threatening Armageddon for schools and nobody seems to care.

Okay so yes, I learned to read and write and do arithmetic in classrooms that lacked amenities, but mostly in spite of my schooling. I had some good teachers, like Mrs. Davis, my first grade teacher who had marched with Martin Luther King. My parents always exposed my brother and I to lots of culture and experiences. We lived near the University of Penn, where they worked, and so we had a great advantage in that way. But not everyone did. Then, as now, Philadelphia struggles with achievement rates. I will certainly make sure my own kids get what they need to learn and grow into productive citizens. But not everyone will be able to do that. Disparity in achievement, decaying facilities and degradation of the public school system are all on the horizon. What are we going to do about it!?

I agree that there needs to be an overhaul of the public education system. It is in a shambles and appears to have been mismanaged for years. But I don't think that we can leave it to the free market or each family’s own devices, as Republican presidential candidate Santorum would seem to suggest (yeah right!). Perhaps the situation needs to get even more dire before California understands how important public education is. Once we are surrounded by unsophisticated clerks who can't count change, customer service workers who can't understand inventory and sales procedures, industries that cannot fill jobs with Californians because that have no skills and training, then we might start to see the benefit of public schools. Right now we are on the brink:  We are no longer supporting the arts or athletics, school facilities are in decline, and teachers, both good and bad, are being thrown out with the bathwater. I think we are witnessing the end of an era. The heyday of California as the Promised Land is coming to an ugly end. I am disturbed and a little scared about what may come next.

At this point I don't know what else to do but write these blog posts. I have written legislators, signed petitions, spoken up, contributed, voted, donated, bought local, volunteered, and recycled. I am a parent, a credentialed teacher without a job, an avid community supporter and I am worried that we are abandoning an ideal through shortsighted, ill-conceived public policy based in fear and selfishness.

Stand up for the future, contact your legislators, your school board members, your city leaders and demand that we create a positive future for California. If you don’t like the current system, fine--then say so. Change is good. Debate is good as long as it results in something. Fight for a better tomorrow. If we provide for an educated society, we all reap the benefits. If we decline to act, then we all suffer the consequences.