Schooling Los Angeles

Matt Welch | February 19, 2008

Speaking of education reform in L.A., Reason Foundation education specialist Lisa Snell spent last week debating former L.A. Mummified School District board member David Tokofsky about Locke High, the possibilities for public school kids to exit crappy campuses, the intransigence level of the teachers union, the ancient reform idea of vouchers, and the staggering dropout rate. Read the whole thing at the L.A. Times.

Lisa Snell's reason archive here.

Comments

LarryA|2.19.08 @ 9:38AM|#

Does the L.A. Unified School District allow its students enough flexibility to leave failing schools? Why is the dropout rate so high?

Now that question two has answered question one...

robc|2.19.08 @ 10:24AM|#

LarryA,

Good point. So that leads to the question "Is a high dropout rate as an awful school a bad thing?" Maybe they are choosing to just start working since they arent learning anyway. Seems a wise financial decision to me.

drawnasunder|2.19.08 @ 10:33AM|#

Why do union people always seem like dickwads?

The Wine Commonsewer|2.19.08 @ 10:58AM|#

Typical. LAUSD plays the Reason Marijuana Card:

The more pressing agenda is fixing our public schools by requiring professional responsibility and rigor as well as institutional accountability and results that meet our 21st century needs. These issues will not be solved by screaming about dropouts and saying that the solution is choice and small-school settings. That would be like the Reason Foundation saying that legalizing marijuana can solve America's drug problems.

Lisa, I am waiting for you to exhale!

|2.19.08 @ 11:07AM|#

The more pressing agenda is fixing our public schools by requiring professional responsibility and rigor as well as institutional accountability and results that meet our 21st century needs.

WTF is this supposed to mean? As far as I can tell, it is a call for diverting even more resources from front-line teaching to the rear-echelon types.

That would be like the Reason Foundation saying that legalizing marijuana can solve America's drug problems.

Yeah? And? Didn't this bureaucratic tool just admit that choice and small-school settings are indeed a good idea, just like legalizing marijuana is a good idea?

|2.19.08 @ 1:03PM|#

Damn Republicans. Public education was great in this country until Bush became president.

At least that's what the ads the teacher's union is running for Hillary told me.