Education, Separation Someone has visited me from out of the past, out of my high school days when I was a wee lad + awkward loner. This old friend and I visited over a slice and a pint for about two hours, catching up on each other's lives, and pitting L.A. vs. Portland in a battle royale. Surf and sun and surface vs. mist and green and weird. She's probably one of the 6 to 10 people I would give a rats ass about at my 10 year reunion coming up. Just one more reason now not to even bother going!

She is a teacher of middle school students in a low income , primarily hispanic neighborhood of Southern California. The vast majority of the kids are learning English as a second language. The rate of high school graduates in the district is terribly low. Read her blog of the experiences here.

We landed on the subject of magnet programs. The magnet is basically an alternative program in the same building under an independent administration with separate rules, procedures, and operations. They are better funded, better staffed and have better facilities. And for a kid to make this step, all they are required to do is fill out an application. That's it. Take 10 minutes and write down some personal info. There is nothing to pay and no specific academic achievement requirements.

Accelerated classes are a permanent fixture in the educational landscape, and I suppose this magnet idea is just a logical, if not somewhat drastic extension of that. We talked about the rift between the magnet kids and the kids in her standard classroom, how there are smart kids in her class that belong in an accelerated environment, but have no self-esteem to make a simple step up. The conclusion we eventually came to is that has become a necessary structure in the inner city context, to take the smallest bit of aptitude and motivation and allow it to blossom. The test for the school staff then, is to encourage and draw as many kids as they can to take education seriously.  ¶ 1/06/2007 12:10:00 AM