Posted on 05/07/2002 2:29:35 AM PDT by heleny
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:50:26 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Policy: Only students bound for college, a trade or military can take part in ceremony.
More than 3,700 seniors at eight San Fernando Valley high schools may have taken all the English, history and math classes required for a diploma, but if they want to cross the stage at graduation, they'll first need to take big steps for their future.
Under a new, much-debated policy, those students will be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies only if they have committed to post-secondary education or training--whether university, community college, trade school or the military.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Students should go to college because they are truly interested in learning something specific, not because they want to join all their friends attending the graduation ceremony. If students who don't want to go to college start flooding colleges, it might just dilute the quality of students; professors often teach to the middle of the class, so college education might not mean anything if everyone attends. If groups of friends from families with less education don't have the requisite acceptance letters as tickets to the graduation celebration, they might not even work hard to finish getting a high school diploma, since there is less fanfare or even notice without the ceremony.
If a family does not have enough money to send a child to college, perhaps he should work for a while before attending. He will value the education more, and he will probably be more mature in college. But, under this policy he will not be able to attend his high school graduation.
The ACLU pursues so many cases that seem unnecessary to me. This case (as portrayed in this article) seems to be just as worthy of litigating as some of their other cases.
This policy could very well have a more deleterious effect on future students. Many of those who get the idea that they won't be recognized for their achievements in front of parents and friends are likely to just forget about graduating from high school. The diploma that comes in the mail will be perceived as nothing more than another piece of paper ala junk mail. This could very well have the effect of decreasing the number of graduates and increasing the drop-out rates.
I totally agree. This part of LAUSD isn't the inner city, though. They are in the San Fernando Valley, which is trying to secede from Los Angeles. (not sure of the details about exactly which parts, or whether all of these schools are included.)
list of affected schools, according to the article:
Birmingham, Cleveland, Grant, Reseda, Taft, Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, and Valley Alternative
Taft High School has won the national Academic Decathlon twice (at least once in the past ten years, I think).
Sadly, I think you may be right. From the article, "Initial estimates show that 90% to 95% of District C seniors have made a post-secondary commitment this year. Last year, without the policy, 54% took that step."
I'll bet they didn't consider this. If the mission is only for a year, students sometimes apply for college, get accepted, and then request to postpone enrollment. If the mission is two years, though, not so many colleges allow the deferment. A lot of students seem to go to college for a year or two before going on a mission, and then return to finish their degrees.
Discrimination against religion?
When I was in HS, not in LAUSD, thankfully, we looked forward to graduation. We were told that anyone who missed a graduation practice (held three times, the week of graduation, while everyone else took final exams) would be excluded from participating in the graduation ceremony.
Also, if there was a senior ditch day, defined by a certain large percentage of absences on any school day, then graduation and grad night (all night at Disneyland, the night after graduation) would be cancelled for all seniors.
Yes, California does rank poorly. But, these San Fernando Valley schools aren't in the worst areas of CA.
Teachers Protest Dress Code
Schools: L.A. Unified urges troubled campuses to follow guidelines.Nearly 100 teachers at Mount Vernon Middle School met with Los Angeles Unified School District officials to protest what they call a "loyalty oath," a dress code and other changes mandated at certain troubled campuses.
[snip]
Under a "staff commitment form" created by the district for Mount Vernon, male teachers will be required to wear ties and slacks; women who wear dresses must wear pantyhose. No jeans or athletic shoes will be allowed. If teachers refuse to abide by these and other requirements on the form, they must apply for transfer to another campus. They will not be terminated.
[snip]
"If you are a teacher and you don't want to do it, you are welcome to go elsewhere," Romer said in an interview at district headquarters. "We're trying to salvage schools that are failing. We're trying to do something for the children."
At Mount Vernon, the district is also requiring staff members to be open to experimenting with or changing teaching methods, to communicate with students' parents, to maintain high energy and to attend all mandated staff development sessions.
[snip]
Mount Vernon is one of 10 Los Angeles Unified schools that state auditors found had failed to improve test scores despite four years of warnings....
[the other schools are] Avalon Gardens Elementary School; Gompers, Horace Mann and Sun Valley middle schools; and [John C. Fremont], Jefferson, Locke, Roosevelt and Wilson high schools.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.