The drought faced by science education in California

When my family moved to California, my parents were all set to send me to the local public school. Both of my parents attended public school and received high-quality educations. Unfortunately, someone was shot at Reseda High School, the school I would have attended. My parents hesitated and decided to send me to a private school.

The L.A. Unified public school system continues to fall apart. L.A. Unified represents the second-largest school system in the country. The system in California could be a litmus test for school systems throughout the country. The current catastrophe could be a sort of Cassandra forecasting the changes to come.

California is experiencing tremendous fiscal difficulties. Because of state and national financial crises, the district is facing a deficit of nearly $700 million over the next 18 months. Similar to Harvard's move a few weeks ago, L.A. Unified has re-opened its early retirement program. If this measure is ineffective in combating the lack of financial resources, layoffs could begin on July 1, 2009. Due to a rule that the school system needs to decide on all layoffs before a certain date, many teachers will receive pink slips in the mail. Some will then be able to breathe a sigh of relief, because only a portion of those that receive pink slips will actually be laid off. The number of teachers receiving these pink slips recently rose to 9000.

How will administration officials choose who to let go? The main criterion is seniority: new teachers will be laid off first. This process eliminates many of the most enthusiastic teachers, in whom the school system has made substantial investments. Furthermore, because less experienced teachers are cheaper, the district will have to lay off more of them to narrow the budget gap, leading to more students in already over-full classes, as well as the shuffling of classes and instructors. These factors are all disruptive to students. Notably, the early retirement packages would help retain to young teachers; 2000 teachers have already agreed to retire early.

Los Angeles classrooms cannot avoid further disruption. Teachers already have their hands tied behind their backs with regard to disciplining students. In a private school, teachers can take steps to penalize unruly students or ultimately to expel a student who refuses to behave. Public school teachers do not have this power. The school refuses to back up L.A. Unified teachers in matters involving problem students, due to the fear of incurring a lawsuit. Teachers must have the ability to exercise authority in order to keep students in line. As an elementary school student in L.A., I used to have visions of paper airplanes flying across the classroom and fantasized about instigating general chaos. I did my part to make these dreams a reality, but was always put firmly in my place. Notes passed in class just don't have the same thrill when they're intercepted by the teacher. I was mortified when my parents invited one teacher, who had particular difficulty controlling the class, over for dinner. It felt morally wrong (even to a nine-year-old) to be ditching class when the teacher had sat at my parents' dining room table. If parents and teachers do not work together to instill values in their children, American students will continue to perform poorly in comparison to those in other countries.

The causes of poorly behaved students are surely deep-rooted. One may be the love affair between Americans and pharmaceuticals. Prenatal exposure to drugs has documented effects on brain development, with implications for policy and education. Remarkably, legal drugs such as nicotine and alcohol may have worse effects on brain development than illegal drugs. Implementing the necessary regulations will have to be navigated carefully. For example, if a pregnant mother tests positive for an illegal substance and is forced to go through withdrawal, the withdrawal process may also have damaging effects on the developing fetus.

One wonders when these issues will benefit from much-lauded federal stimulus funding. When will the effects of the stimulus bill trickle down? The federal stimulus bill includes more than $100 billion in new education funding, with $650 million set aside for technology grants that would benefit science education and help with the construction of new science labs. The public school system will be unable to make effective use of these funds until they have the unified support of both teachers and parents.