Where’s The Outrage?
Written by redqueeninla in LAUSD
In this season given over to wrapping-up the designated twelve-month unit’s worth of happenings, Education may be mentioned nominally as an issue of great import while in matter of fact, there is very little gravitas escorting it. As vested and as mesmerized as the next by all things education-political, yet along with everyone else, I find myself sort of glazing-over when confronted with the reporting of it.
Yet, oh does this dispassion matter. For it is in the wake of fatigue and ennui and confusion that so much that is so bad for our children gets enacted. So much!
When will you get involved? It’s time to push through the stultifying verbiage and listen to – really hear — the underlying meaning. In the spirit of the season, here are some sample outrages for your consideration:
• School class sizes on the order of 50 pupils per teacher. I don’t care what the published average norms are [2013-14 range: 24 - 42.5 depending on school- and class-type and grade (42.5 is "district norm" for grades 6-12)]. The reality is that some children are sitting in some classrooms where a single teacher is expected to teach, somehow, your child as one among fifty. Because these norms are averages across the district, games are played with the overall numbers resulting in this untenable situation in not-rare instances. It is not possible for one individual to instruct 50 students, no matter the theorizing otherwise. It simply isn’t. And if this reality doesn’t get your