A new annual report released by UCLA concludes that where high school students live plays a big role in whether or not they pursue higher education upon graduation.
John Rogers, a professor of education and co-director of UCLA’s Institute for Democracy Education Access, said schools largely made up of underrepresented Latino and African American students have few resources and minimal support after graduation.
Rogers said he predicts that if the flaws in the system continue, by the year 2025 there will not be enough high school graduates from California pursing the necessary bachelor’s degree needed to get a basic job.
California students are performing far below the national average while the overall California school system was ranked 48 out of all 50 states, the IDEA report said.
Jordan Mercedes Maldonado, a first-year business economics student, recalls her own high school experience.
Maldonado said that students at her high school were not typically encouraged to pursue a college education. In fact, Maldonado was the only student from her graduating class to be accepted and attend UCLA.
Contrary to the report, students entering high school as freshmen seem to express sincere hopes of graduating and going to college, Rogers said.
He said that seven out of eight parents expressed their desire to see their children go to college. However, this early aspiration quickly fades, especially in schools where minorities are the majority.
Maria Patiño, a first-year Chicana and Chicano studies student, said that when was in high school she witnessed firsthand the challenges facing all students aspiring to attend college.
Although Patiño was enrolled in Advanced Placement classes and participated in a program for college-bound students, most of her friends ended up going to community colleges.
“We were all there, but some of us were just put there because we had good grades in middle school,” Patiño said.
The report said that students who attend these typically unmotivated schools tend to also come from low-income families, some speaking English as a second language.
Maldonado said that what made the difference for her was that her parents both had graduate degrees and encouraged her to pursue college.
The report also concludes that California has one of the highest concentration of students per classroom, averaging about 23 students per teacher.
Patiño said her AP classes often started off with as many as 40 students. She said that it was the same for her mainstream counterparts except that AP students were located in larger classrooms.
As a result, California schools face a shortage of teachers that begs them to step out of their field of expertise to teach other courses, Rogers said. In the case of ethnically underrepresented schools, students are seven times more likely to be taught by under-qualified teachers, Rogers said.
This leaves teachers in a tight situation where they show no enthusiasm for the subject they are teaching, Rogers said.
Students feel the lack of enthusiasm and their work reflects it, he added.
“When I came into UCLA, I realized I really wasn’t prepared. High school didn’t prepare me at all,” Maldonado said.
“My teachers were OK and I thought they were challenging me at the time, but I was wrong.”
Ivan Peña, a college counselor at La Puente High School in the San Gabriel Valley, said he serves a student body of approximately 1,200, all of which are going to be left to fend for themselves once his contract expires in June.
La Puente will have to do without a college counselor or hire someone who can do the job without the experience.
The educational system has been on the decline for years and “fundamental changes are needed to reach our share of educational goals,” Rogers said.