Public Education

As a cradle-to-BA alumnus of Wisconsin's public schools, I have never appreciated the quality of education I received. Admittedly, I took it for granted. Living out in LA and hearing all the bad news about their public schools has brought me to a greater appreciation for not only the tax dollars that go into our schools, but also the teachers who put countless hours of preparation and immeasurable creativity and care into their lesson plans to give their students the best education they possibly can.

California's ranks 47th (out of 50...) in the amount of funding they send to their public schools, and has the Los Angeles Unified School District alone has laid of over 7,000 teachers. In the community where I work, if an adolescent doesn't get accepted into a Catholic or private school, that student barely has a 30% chance of graduating from high school. A 70% drop out rate is not a very encouraging statistic, especially given the problems with gangs and violence we deal with on a daily basis.

I'm not quite sure where the priorities lie here but when I talk to the 8th graders who go to school at Dolores Mission, I am proud that their desire to go to a Catholic high school will grant them success in the future. At the same time, when they tell me that they don't get the attention they need in public schools; that the teachers don't care; that they often walk away not understanding what was just taught to them, even after asking question upon question, I am disheartened and disappointed.

The point of this isn't to bash LAUSD. I don't know enough about the finances and politics surrounding all of that to make any judgements. Rather, the point is simply to acknowledge the quality education I have received and an appreciation for all of the stress I caused my teachers, kinder through college.