The Education Gap

"I was teaching kids the alphabet in 8th grade. Many of them had gone through all of elementary school in California"

- Anonymous CA teacher

Flickr Photostream Page for Education Project

Here you can go and see my complete set of images from my trip to LA schools.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77178311@N07/sets/72157629426224561/

LAUSD: An Examination of the Education of the Have's and Have-Nots

1000 Word Article

The American Education System ranks 20^th out of 28 developing countries. 1.2 million students a year drop out of high school. 1,634 high schools have drop out rates that are higher than 60%. They are referred to as drop out factories. In the Los Angeles area 35,000 students dropped out of high school in 2008. Where is the failure that causes the American school system to rank so low when our military ranks first. Is spending to blame, or is it the societies that children that come from that do not inspire them to succeed and better themselves academically?

I went on a tour of schools with one of the Complex Project Managers working for the Los Angeles Unified School District in an attempt to understand the situation that the education system in the Los Angeles area is in. I planned to examine the disparity between the schools that wealthy children attended and schools that were drop out factories like Crenshaw High School. My goal is to come to locate the

We started off our tour at the beautiful Kenter Canyon Charter Elementary School. Charter schools are not regulated by the district as to where they spend their money. Funds are allocated at the will of the school. I spoke with the principal of the school and asked him how he kept his school so nice, "I leave notes" he responded. "Whenever the janitors would leave furniture outside or a teacher's classroom was in violation of safety code, I would leave a note. I think they really hate reading those notes, so it stopped." He told me how he prides himself on knowing nearly every student's name, and if he draws a blank they are called "buddy." Education in Pacific Palisades is unlike anything I have ever experienced. My kindergarten playground equipment certainly did not come complete with a fake town sporting labeled buildings: "Whole Foods" "Investment Consultants" "Physicians Management Group", "Valet Parking", "The Luxe Hotel", and "Union Bank." It was amazing that even before kids could read they were being conditioned to be familiar with the signs that would likely become a way of life for them. The grounds were plentiful with grass and places to park their Razor scooters.

I then went to Revere middle school which is the next step for these kids. It was equally as beautiful and large. I was not allowed inside. It was a California Distinguished Blue Ribbon School. A national review board gives these awards to schools who demonstrate excellence in the performance of both teachers and students. They have challenging curriculum, good facilities, leadership roles and partnerships with the communities which they are a part of.

Pacific Palisades Charter High School is the last stop for these privileged youngsters. It is also a California Distinguished Blue Ribbon School.  Some of its features include a huge astro turf field and a parking lot filled with BMW's Mercedes and other luxury vehicles. It was the filming place for Carrie and Freaky Friday. I was told that about half of the students here are bused in from disadvantaged schools such as Crenshaw High School and others. In order to be accepted from a lower income area students must apply to go to school here. That application may be salvation for students that otherwise would go to a school where the graduation rate is only around half the student population in comparison to Palisades 96%. The system of accepting certain students puts the school in a position that is often scrutinized as "cherry pickers." Not every applicant will get in and it is very unfortunate if they aren't.

I then went to the projects of East Los Angeles. The area was in stark comparison with Pacific Palisades.

The first stop was Stoner Elementary School located in the heart of the projects. I was told that it was vandalized almost every day until LAUSD gave partial ownership to the residents in the neighboring projects. Now they keep the school safe and graffiti free. It was nothing like the luxurious Kenter Canyon. They had faded equipment, all asphalt ground and chain link fences.  Across the street from the elementary school there was a memorial to a 17 year old who had died. It was written in Spanish.

Audubon Middle School is the next step for these kids. A police car was parked outside of the school and the same conditions as the elementary school prevailed. There is definitely a different mood around these places. Where the other schools seemed alive and open these schools were closed off and fenced in.

Crenshaw High School was the last stop for me and for the kids in this area. It has a 64% dropout rate. In a youtube interview a young black male said he didn't feel safe at school. I didn't feel safe even outside of it. Though the building was not in any state of decay the area and the neighbors put me at a certain level of unease. I noticed they had double fences. Iron bars stood in the outside of a chain link fence. I was informed that that was necessary because before "There was no way to keep them in. Every day there was a new hole in the chain link fence for getting out."

 I had expected to see social neglect or poor facilities in poor areas contributing to the low levels of education in these areas and the quality of teachers being less. What I found was a school district trying the best that they could to improve conditions for these kids 11,000 dollars is spent on average for every child in these schools. 12,000 is spent on Crenshaw's kids. The number of teachers with PhD's Masters and Bachelors degrees is not very different from school to school. The social pressures and attitudes towards education in these areas seem to be the prevailing factors in these areas. "Some kids have to leave school to work. They have no choice." It is a viscous circle.

Interview With Chris Silva

1. Tell me a little about yourself, your major, where you are from? 

Well, I'm a 1st year graduate Studio Art major (MFA), and I'm originally from the SF Bay Area where I obtained my BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute.

2. Tell me about your issue that you've chosen for the class and why?

I'm currently in the research phase of looking into how the transgender and transsexual populations are treated and dealt with within the justice system. The reason I chose this topic is because I feel like this is a group of people where it can become hard to find a clear line on what the methods and practices can be beneficial and humane. When Richard Ross  offered this graduate level course on justice, I hopped on the chance to participate.

3. Would you say your background has shaped your project? If so how?

While I was in undergrad I was pursuing an associate's degree is administration of justice and eventually switched to art. My passion for researching justice hasn't stopped since then, I've just chosen a different path to find truths and meaning within everyday encounters. Also, while attending school at the San Francisco Art Institute I was introduced/exposed to many different concepts of gender, lifestyle, and identity politics. I have many friends who participate in gender bending and it is something that recurs within my own work. I think that it is a subject that is becoming more and more relevant over the years.

3. Can you elaborate more on your experiences with friends that have changed your focus and concept of gender? Is there a particular memory that you can recall?

I wouldn't say any specific memory beyond just growing with other artists and watching them change and realize their own identities in the world. Most of my own work (I've been told) is dealing with male identity in one way or another. I plan on tackling this topic by first making some calls and locating the population, and then trying to get in there to interview and/or photograph them.

5. What do you think that it would take to get justice and understanding from our society for trans gendered/ trans sexual individuals?

I think that society as a whole and the justice system deal with this subject in very different ways. I think society at large deals with things very simply, if they don't know about something, they deal with it in the way it is delivered to them. So say if you couldn't tell someone was a "tranny" (M/F, F/M doesn't matter), then there is no problem. I think what it comes down to is honesty. I don't think most people are freaked out by the idea of what is happening, as long as that person is doing what makes them happy as long as they are not hurting anyone in the process. The understanding will come with time, just like with the gay population, it takes a plethora of different experiences and tactics for it to be "accepted". There is also still much research to be done on what happens within the psyche of a person that would cause them to reject their own identity and what kinds of therapy can be applied to make them more ok with who they are whether or not they actually go through with the transition. That is where I think (I hope) the justice system will implement these treatments, cause I do think that it isn't something that should just be black and white, being either male or female, most of these people pre/mid/post transition still need attention.

6. And do you see this possibly happening in our lifetime?

Possibly...the difference between how these populations were treated 20 years ago and today is vastly different, and I think the difference in 20 years will be vast as well.

This Could Have Consequences....

Justice means being able to love someone and express your love for them without and damage to your human rights. One of the subjects could be expelled from his Christian college if he was exposed. They are in front of a courthouse. Legislation needs to be made to give justice to homosexual people.