The Californian Education System: Then and Now (San Diego, Torrance: 2013, best schools)

[possum_magic]

Describe your personal experience of the Californian education system when you were at school. What decade was it? Pros, Cons?

What are your thoughts about the system today; as a parent, grandparent or educator etc...? What's right with the system? What needs improvement?

I am particularly interested in elementary level, but would love to hear your thoughts on K-12.

[malcorub16]

Originally Posted by possum_magic

Describe your personal experience of the Californian education system when you were at school. What decade was it? Pros, Cons?

What are your thoughts about the system today; as a parent, grandparent or educator etc...? What's right with the system? What needs improvement?

I am particularly interested in elementary level, but would love to hear your thoughts on K-12.

I think most people (including myself) on this forum didn't go to grade school here. More of us probably attended college/university here if anything.

I am excited that my soon to be five year old son will enter school next year (I have 3 kids all under 5) in September and that the local Lakeside Union School District (K-8) offers Spanish immersion program at one of it's elementary schools. The children study fully in Spanish for two years and gradually begin studies in English at about 3rd Grade. In addition to the, the children also receive instruction in Mandarin-Chinese after 4th grade but not to the extent that they receive instruction in English and Spanish.

There is also a Mandarin immersion program offered at the school. This all sounds like something out of a private charter school, but nope, its public.

To me, its important for my kids to be well rounded and "global" as that is the way of the future. I feel this will create more opportunities not just here in the US but around the world for my kids. If they can master those 3 languages to a degree, they will be able to communicate with almost 80% of the world (just my guesstimate).

When we purchased our home, school district was not on our list of items of importance. We just kind of lucked out with this one.

[Pedro2000]

I agree that growing up knowing how to read, write, speak different languages is a good thing. However I've noticed far more people just look at it as "know X,y,Z languages" and not really care about much anything else. THe issue with most schools in the US is the science and math is bad. And I really don't see anything changing the way it's lip service and nobody really thinks about a way to change that fact. It's great if a kid knows 3 languages, but if they don't learn many other things around that, it becomes "are they a linguist or are they just a person who knows 3 languages and not much else.

That is where my issue is. People concentrate too much on "learn spanish and Mandarin" and who cares about math, science, history, and anything else. If you work with or have friends from around the world who know 3+ languages, it's never about knowing various languages, it's just thats what they know, but they also grew up in a math or engineering or science kind of space. The language is just a background kind of thing. It seems in the US a lot of people make it the main thing. So good in one way, not so good when they leave everything else out.

[malcorub16]

Originally Posted by Pedro2000

I agree that growing up knowing how to read, write, speak different languages is a good thing. However I've noticed far more people just look at it as "know X,y,Z languages" and not really care about much anything else. THe issue with most schools in the US is the science and math is bad. And I really don't see anything changing the way it's lip service and nobody really thinks about a way to change that fact. It's great if a kid knows 3 languages, but if they don't learn many other things around that, it becomes "are they a linguist or are they just a person who knows 3 languages and not much else.

That is where my issue is. People concentrate too much on "learn spanish and Mandarin" and who cares about math, science, history, and anything else. If you work with or have friends from around the world who know 3+ languages, it's never about knowing various languages, it's just thats what they know, but they also grew up in a math or engineering or science kind of space. The language is just a background kind of thing. It seems in the US a lot of people make it the main thing. So good in one way, not so good when they leave everything else out.

I agree 100% with what you are saying Pedro and I am researching to make sure that its not just about the language because that would be doing my child a disservice. It should not necessarily be about just learning the language, but about receiving instruction in another language and learning the grammar simultaneously. Which is why its not just the same French or the Italian or the Spanish courses you or myself might have taken in grade school. The immersion program is about learning math, science, history, technology...etc in another language while learning the other language.

[hellzbellz]

I attended Seaside Elementary in Torrance from 1952 to 1960. Had the same teacher as my two sisters who attended before me. We stayed in the same class and just changed subjects. It was a good time as I could walk or ride my bike, even to kindergarten. Small class with recess three times a day. You made really good friends as you were with them all day, year after year, unless they moved. The teacher got to know each student very well and the parents were involved. Sure not like today. My son came to live with me when he was 15 and the school he attended in Arizona looked more like a prison then a school. Guards roaming around and the classrooms had no windows. What a depressing place.

[hitman619]

I was born and Raised here in San Diego(Spent 10 years off and on in NYC and Louisiana)
Imo schools here have gotten much,much better since 70's.I was in grade school till 81-82
I attended San Diego Unified Schools for most of it.I also attended a science and magnet school(which are kinda like charter schools now)There were a lot of budget
cuts in the late 70's early 80's.I was not able to attend 6th grade camp because of budget cuts.
I can remember from 1st grade to 4th grade teachers were always on strike.From 2nd grade till 4th grade i was part of a unique program were half the day was taught in Spanish the other have in English.It allowed me to learn Spanish,not fluent but enough to communicate.Due to political correctness,its know way that class would fly today.There was a lot of drama going on in the 80's with kids being bused to intercity schools and intercity kids being bused to the Suburbs.They quit busing kids to intercity schools but intercity kids are still bused to the suburbs in large numbers.
I'm at a football ill type more later

[The Flying Dutchman]

Originally Posted by malcorub16

I agree 100% with what you are saying Pedro and I am researching to make sure that its not just about the language because that would be doing my child a disservice. It should not necessarily be about just learning the language, but about receiving instruction in another language and learning the grammar simultaneously. Which is why its not just the same French or the Italian or the Spanish courses you or myself might have taken in grade school. The immersion program is about learning math, science, history, technology...etc in another language while learning the other language.

This, and also what the OP said. Any decent school of the future will incorporate this "immersion-symmetry" approach to education. While it used to be that students were taught in a very similar manner to how production workers are trained -- a.k.a. manufactured, schools are catching up to better teaching methods.

My professor actually went on about this in a class of mine. He said that schools should teach across the spectrum so that each of your classes complement each other...

Example: While you learn algebra you also learn about the Babylonians. When you graduate to geometry you learn about the Greeks. When learning about physics, you go out sailing.

Only the best schools in the country do this, and they teach students HOW to learn, now WHAT to learn. There is actually a lot of literature on this subject, but I hope public schools follow suit.

-TFD

[Fran66]

I attended Holy Family Catholic School in Linda Vista in grade school. That was 1952-1960. I attended Linda Vista Junior High for one year. [Then my family moved to Concord, CA, and I attended Mt. Diablo High School. Graduated in 1966.] I think I received an excellent education. In grade school, we were taught to love learning. How to think. How to reason. Math education was very good. But -- science was practically non-existent. But, for instance, sometime in 6th or 7th or 8th grade, we had to do a report on every major country in the world, all countries in South America, and Mexico. Everything about each country. Even their imports and exports. We learned geography, time zones, longitude and latitude. I remember this project VERY WELL because it took most of one school year, and I wasn't at all I interested at the time. By the time I was in 8th grade, I was reading on a 13th grade level (freshman in college). And a lot of us were very advanced. Also, I well remember my 8th grade teacher -- an old, OLD sister -- who taught us that life had to exist on other planets in our universe.

When I went to LV Junior High, I was SO far ahead of everyone else, and I was totally bored. But -- the last three years of high school in Concord, I received more excellent education. Plus, there were a lot of science courses offered, up through physics, but one didn't need to take them to graduate, and, of course, I didn't. I must have had to take at least one -- but I don't remember. I didn't get interested in science until I was in college.

When my sons graduated from 8th grade, we sent them to Servite High (a Catholic all-boys HS) in Orange County (where we lived at the time). I was astounded at the education my sons received. But my sons' friends who went to public school? They couldn't read, write, spell or think.

Oh -- I forgot -- in grade school at HF in San Diego -- there were 58-64 students in my class every year. And we not only learned, most of us excelled.

I don't know what education is like in San Diego now. I would think it's not much better nor much worse than any other public school system.

My suggestion is that you send your children to private schools in San Diego. Period. I think you'll be very surprised at the number of science, math and language courses available to your children and at the quality of that education.

[Fran66]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/op...2v9HM+K1KIF0Jg