Los Angeles, sorry.

Well, I live in Ontario, which is about 40 miles East of downtown LA. obiwan I believe lives in the San Fernando Valley (if I remember correctly), which is part of LA proper. So far as I know that's it from our little community, although we do have a few Sandy Eggans (or "San Diegoans" as they are sometimes known).

What is causing you to move?

I live in Palmdale, which is a couple hours away from LA (how long exactly it takes to get there depends on the notorious LA traffic...)

"I live in Palmdale"

Yikes! My condolences.

;-)

I visited in '05 fro Microsoft PDC. Stayed at the Omni Angels Plaza downtown and managed to get to Santa Monica, Pasadena, and Anaheim (Disneyland) as well as to NBC studios to watch a taping of Leno and also a short lived series called "Out of Practice" with Henry Winkler. We also saw a Christmas commercial for Cadillac (the one where the Escalades and what not drive into the billboard from that Christmas) as it was being shot behind the Omni the day we arrived.

Peg and I really want to go back some time... But no, I don't live there.

There is some steak place in Pasadena, I forget it's name, but it had some awesome food. Gotta love being on a decent per diem.

Doesn't Dunecat live in/near LA?

ooh I drew a MadMarx out of hiding!
I got accepted into Teach for America yesterday, and my placement is secondary science in the greater LA area.

I have a couple games that won't end, but am getting very excited to take a few months off!! Suppose some of that is the mission trip I'm going on to Peru over spring break, and getting to check out Machu Picchu, but I've also got some stuff to get done and it'll be much easier to focus without any diplomacy games to worry about...

Edi birsan is from socal I think

Edi Birsauron is of San Francisco, which is Northern California.

congrats on teach for america. that is pretty awesome.
what was the application process and whatnot like?
also, did you choose LA as your location?

What is Teach for America?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Teach+for+America

Best of luck with that, peter. It should be a great experience.

I was more hoping for a brief explanation not a google search but thanks abgemacht.

TOA sends students right out of college to go teach in underprivileged areas. They give you all the training you need to teach, so they hire people from many majors, although they particularly like people with STEM backgrounds.

Thats a really neat program. Sounds like it would be both really rewarding and effective. Forgive my ignorance on the subject I am not an American.

Yes, from what I've heard, it's a great program. I seriously considered it myself for a while.

It is also very hard to get into the program; it draws the best students from the best colleges. something like a quarter of yale's senior class applies

it is sort of controversial though. these aren't trained teachers and some people think it ends up being negative when most people leave the education field after the 2 year comittment

Not to slight the teaching profession, but wouldn't motivated, high-achieving new graduates be pretty effective teachers? Its a prestigious program and basic education isn't something that is too difficult to give. especially if the alternative is unmotivated, bottom of the barrel trained teachers.

yeah i agree with you. its something i have thought about applying for.

you are probably wrong about the easy part. you are teaching in the most difficult areas. think the fourth season of the wire.

@Frank

It really says more about the complete failure of the US education system that we even need this program.

yeah i agree completely. i'm not really sure about potential solutions. the evidence on charter schools seems pretty mixed.

@Lando

I think you might be surprised at how truly difficult it is to teach children that have never been given a chance and have no interest in learning.

@ abgemacht

Why would a system that seeks to bolster certain areas point to the "complete failure" of the US education system? It seems they have a very limited scope in that they aim to address inequity of opportunity based upon geographical and socio-economic factors.

It's not as if every school in these areas perform poorly. There are plenty of 90-90-90 schools. (90% of students are members of an ethnic minority - 90% are eligible for free & reduced lunch- 90% meets or exceed standards on standardized testing)

**performs poorly**

"Complete failure" is clearly an overstatement.

However, there are many significant flaws with the US educational system that prevent it form healing itself. TFA is a wonderful program, but it's one that one would hope wouldn't be needed.

Part of the problem is that there isn't a US educational system. There are 50 state educational systems each being comprised of up to a 100 or so local educational systems. There is no continuity if a student moves from Alabama to Arizona.

This is both a strength and a weakness. It's a weakness in that it makes any good idea coming down from the top very hard to work it's way to the classroom and it makes good ideas from one classroom nearly impossible to reach other classes in other areas.

It's a strength in that it can be very responsive to local needs and initiatives.


One thing that people frequently lose sight of is that US Education isn't going downhill. It's merely being measured against lots of other systems that are exploding. These other systems generally came along later and had the benefit of being modeled on the US system but also making their own improvements based on the needs of their societies. Just from my own experience, I'm teaching concepts to 6th graders that I didn't learn until high school.

Yes, you make a good point about each state.

But, there are things that could be done within this system, such as paying teachers more and having a few less ridiculous union rules.

And, I would agree that US education isn't getting worse, but staying the same while a lot of the world gets better really has the same effect.

Back to the original point of the thread, I currently reside in LA during the school year. 351 Charles E Young Dr. 90024. Westwood to be exact.

As much as it pains me to say it, paying teachers more will do little to increase the quality of instruction. This is merely because the best teachers are generally not there because of the pay to begin with, nor are the worst ones likely to leave based upon their pay in most cases.

I can't really speak to unions as our state really doesn't have them like others do. Yet as a whole our state doesn't really shine because of the absence either.

One thing that the TFA program does point out though is that we have a society that doesn't value a career in public education very highly. I'm better qualified to teach in my field than anyone on my grade level. I have a bachelor's degree in English (comp & rhetoric) and a masters in Secondary English education. As a result I've had less than 1% of my kids fail their writing evaluation, and an average of less than 5% come up failing their grammar or reading assessments each year. This includes my Special Ed. population. The first thing that I had to get over before making the decision to teach was the contemptuous and oft repeated "Oh you're majoring in English. What are you going to do.....teach high school?"

The very fact that these very intelligent people go into this program for two years and then run for the hills should tell you that teaching isn't easy. One thing that would help education out in the US would be getting these talented people into the classroom for an entire career not just two years. That's an area where other nations outstrip us. They are recruiting the top graduates to go into their schools as teachers. We're still taking anyone who can pass the certification test & criminal background check in most cases.

I have to disagree with you on the salary issue. Paying a decent wage would making teaching more appealing to people who would be great teachers, but for whatever reason, need/want a higher income. Wanting money doesn't mean you wouldn't be a good teacher.

There are all kinds of problems with unions (at least where I am). Not being able to negotiate your own wage is a huge issue, especially in this economy. Salaries being based on time, not quality. Being forced to lay-off the most recent hire. etc...

And yes, I do agree that there is an image issue with teaching. However, when you go through school being taught by awful teachers who are only there because of tenure, you begin to understand where this originates from.

Wow . . . look what I started.
When you apply, you classify each region as most preferred, preferred, or least preferred, and then you also specify grade level and subject preferences. If accepted, you get a region, grade level, and subject assignment, which isn't negotiable.

I will agree with both CA and abge on this. I think that salary is definitely a problem. I come from a not-so-affluent town in New York, where the unions are exceptionally strong. Teachers start off with a $42,000 salary and I know gym coaches who make over $100,000 a year, as well as many of the other older teachers. You cannot negotiate with the union very easily, and the salaries and health benefits are almost always increasing. Tenure is a joke. Don't get me wrong, the best teachers are the ones not there for the money but for the joy of teaching, but a system that makes it near-impossible to fire a bad teacher is ineffective. I understand though, that this is not the case in all states. One of my teachers used to teach in North Carolina and was paid very poorly.

I agree with CA on the fact that the most intelligent minds are not being drawn into education, and that there is a certain disdain held for the teaching profession - perhaps unjustly so - by the intellectuals. I have thought long and hard about a career in teaching myself, but am unsure about it.

I do not currently live in LA; however, I lived in LA area (San Fernando Valley) for about 12 years and coincidentally, lived in Lancaster, near Palmdale for about 10 years. Most of my family still lives in the LA area (Sherman Oaks, Thousand Oaks) and I visit frequently, though I wouldn’t want to live there again. Can’t say I know much about the public schools, except my sister did her damndest to put her kids in private school, she believed the public schools were overcrowded, under supervised, and had low standards.

Great weather, though, if you can see it through the smog.