Editorial

In this editorial, I would like to give a critical response to an article by Howard Blume and Sarah Butrymowicz which appeared in the Los Angeles Times dated 28^th, January 2013. In deed, San Jose District gave a misleading report on the educational achievements it had made following the reforms it had introduced in this vital sector. True to their assertion, the district had made a good plan of providing quality education, especially to the disadvantaged population. These include the Latin and black children who are of course from disadvantaged families.

The level of performance amongst the students planning to transit from high school to the college is quite demoralizing. I think this may be attributed to the high standards set for such courses. Of course, the college preparation classes are putting a lot of pressure on the students attending them. I think that San Jose should consider reviewing its policies to ensure that it becomes simple to pursue. If this is done, the enrolment rate can be increased from the staggering rate. Surely, a long preparation process which requires learners to study social sciences, English, Math, Laboratory Science and Foreign Language for more than two years is so tedious.

In my considered opinion, I strongly argue that many students fail to proceed to the university because of such rigidities. If such stringent standards are eliminated, there will be no cases of school drop out or relocation to alternative institutions to graduate after scoring low grades. If this happens, the cases of skewed enrolments seen amongst the Latinos and the low-income communities will be a case of the past. It should be upon the concerned authorities to ensure that they provide equal opportunities to all the children to access education regardless of their social background. The interests of all the students should be safeguarded. This is the only way through which they can be empowered.