By Crystal Betz
Daily Bruin Contributor
The issue of access to higher education, specifically at the
University of California, dominated discussion among elected
officials, community activists and one UCLA professor at
Wednesday’s forum.
Panelists at the Bruin Democrats-sponsored event discussed
raising diversity, affirmative action and the growing national
problem of K-12 education.
Panelists included president of the L.A. city council Alex
Padilla; Lisa Pinto, the director of Congressman Henry
Waxman’s L.A. office; congressional candidate Kevin Feldman,
who is challenging Waxman; and UCLA education professor James
Catterall.
Each voiced concern with the inability of many to receive a
quality education.
“You should realize how lucky you are to be at
UCLA,” Padilla said. “You are unique and special. A lot
of people wish to be here, but couldn’t qualify.”
The UC only takes a limited percentage of students across the
state, and the option of private school attendance is much more
expensive. For these reasons, panelists were concerned about equal
access for underrepresented and low-income students.
Padilla focused on educational access on both a local and
national level. One of his key points included joint use of city
facilities and programs for schools, such as building new schools
in city parks. This would not only be a good use of the limited
space in Los Angeles, Padilla said, but it will help create a bond
between communities and schools.
“It’s smart and efficient, it makes sense both
fiscally and community-wise,” he said.
He also suggested bringing technical training to high schools to
prepare students for college, calling this “the best
education possible.”
Padilla also emphasized the recently passed No Child Left Behind
Act. Signed into law Jan. 8, the national education reform plan
redefines the federal role in K-12 education and aims to help close
the achievement gap between disadvantaged and minority students and
their peers.
Based on four principles, the act calls for stronger
accountability for results in the public school system, greater
local control over curriculum and allocation of federal funds,
expanded options for parents ““ including the choice to move a
student to a safer or higher-performing school ““ and emphasis
on teaching methods that ensure students are reading at or above
grade level.
Along with these goals, student outreach must expand, especially
among Latino and black communities, which still have only a 70
percent high school completion rate, Padilla said.
Though outreach systems are at work, and the growth rate in UC
applications has gone up, the rate of growth in minority
applications went down this year, according to UC reports.
This reveals that the whole education infrastructure has holes,
Catterall said. Problems with limited access to the UC for
minorities and low-income students stem from inadequate preparation
in the K-12 system, he said.
The solutions that have been enacted ““ such as smaller
classes, more reading time and emergency credentials for some
teachers ““ all have down sides, Catterall said. For example,
children are on average spending three hours on reading in school.
This may increase their reading scores, but it’s a negative
trade-off, leaving little time to develop other ideas and skills,
he said.
Catterall proposed admitting students on criteria other than
just academics to ensure classrooms where students excel in
different areas.
Pinto touched on the UC’s new comprehensive review, and a
rethinking of the SAT as an admissions tool. She noted the
UC’s Dual Admission program, which grants students who
graduate in the top 4 to 12.5 percent of their high school class
admission to the UC of their choice if they agree to take their
beginning classes at a community college.
She also noted the Eligibility in Local Context program, which
automatically grants the top 4 percent of freshman students
admission to one of the UC schools.
Unlike the other panelists, Feldman emphasized solutions to
education through a business and economics strategy, including
raising salary.
“It’s basic economics,” Feldman said.
“If you set the pay low, it is difficult to get and retain
high quality teachers.”