Each January the president gives a State of the Union address to Congress with his assessment of our nation's condition along with proposed legislation. The governor gives a similar presentation regarding California. Here is my look at the state of education in California.
Federal legislation in the form of No Child Left Behind and the more recent Race to the Top program has had a dramatic influence on education throughout the United States. These well-intentioned ideals of how to improve the quality of education and the actual results in the classrooms are light years apart. The emphasis on testing and teacher accountability is, in fact, leaving countless California children behind. School funding, which fuels our race to the top, is running out of gas.
The California Teachers Association has declared that California is in a state of emergency regarding its public schools. The cuts over the past three years, coupled with impending additional reductions, are bringing California to the brink of educational disaster.
A study by UCLA released in March, "Free Fall: Educational Opportunities in 2011" confirms the sad state of affairs. This report declares that the state's weakened educational infrastructure has been further damaged. California ranks 43rd in the country in spending per pupil, 49th in student-counselor ratio, and dead last in secondary student-teacher ratio.
Over the last three years, the state has cut $20 billion from education spending and 30,000 teachers have been laid off. An additional 20,000 teachers have been issued preliminary pink slips for the upcoming school year. Another $2 billion to $4 billion may be cut from public education for next year.
Across the state, schools with decimated budgets have cut teachers, field trips, athletics, counselors, librarians and basic school supplies. Music and art programs, which have been proven to aid in academic skill development, have been cut. Summer school has been cut in countless school districts. The encouragement of thinking skills and creativity is gone.
School districts have eliminated class-size reduction in grades K-3. At the time when reading and learning skills are established, we are now providing less individualized attention. When natural curiosity and love of learning are usually awakened, we limit the possibilities. We are failing to provide a good start for young children.
Instead of pushing for the longer school year that exists in most other industrialized countries, California is moving in the opposite direction. Many school districts have or will reduce the school year from 180 to 175 days, further reducing opportunities to learn.
The increasing stress on the family unit, including the rapidly rising rate of single- parent families, drug abuse and latch-key kids, present schools with more and more problem students. Young people are taking many of their behavioral cues from television's vast wasteland. Programs such as "South Park" and "Family Guy" are filled with put-downs, demeaning relationships and gutter language. MTV, along with reality shows such as "Jersey Shore" and "Real World," provide a scene of never-ending partying, casual sex and debauchery. Video games are filled with violence.
The Internet gives us Facebook and Twitter filled with frivolity and self-indulgence. Cell phone texting and other social networking avenues have left students more and more socially isolated in reality. The virtual world is frequently far from a positive place.
Let's not deprive the youth of today and tomorrow of the opportunity which was afforded our grandparents, our parents and ourselves. Let's give today's children the chance to thrive, become productive citizens, and become the leaders of tomorrow.
If the Legislature is forced to impose further Draconian cuts on spending for public education, resulting in more teacher layoffs, larger class sizes and cutting more educational programs, the schools will be in even deeper trouble. Let's not let that happen.
Arkfeld teaches at Los Banos Junior High School.
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