POLITICS-So...just how many times ARE we supposed to re-elect the same usual suspects? How many times ARE we supposed to re-elect the same "community leaders" and "education experts" paid for by the same unions and special interests? How many times ARE we supposed to elect new leaders to reform our community colleges...and yet the finally tally returns the same self-serving empty suits who got us into this mess?
Who knows? Maybe a bunch of us are really happy about the way our money is being spent on our City community colleges. Maybe the huge dropout rate is something that we're proud of. Maybe the failed and misappropriated spending spree on our campus facilities is just "business" as usual.
Or maybe we want someone new. That someone would be Mark Isler, running for the L.A. Community College Board.
Someone who's spent most of his career in education, and who regularly meets with both liberals and conservatives, and with both Democrats and Republicans, on his talk show to really hear all sides of the issue and learn all the nuances and controversies that prevent resolution of our problems.
And someone who doesn't owe his job or decision-making powers to unions, contractors, or any special interests who've been prioritized over students for too long.
Do all community college students need to go to four-year universities? Can some of these two-year schools become four-year colleges to meet the needs of all students? Do all colleges need to have the same majors and minors that lead only to overeducated and overqualified baristas at Starbucks?
Everything from automotive studies to marketing requires computer and other technical expertise that will lead to that all-elusive goal for too many young (and not so young) Angelenos: a quality job.
As Mark Isler explains on his website, how can community colleges work with high schools to ensure that students are ready by the 12th grade to attend institutions of higher learning?
It's bad enough that so many graduate from high school without the basics of reading, writing, or filling out a job application, but it's even more critical that community colleges reverse this trend.
Graduating from a four-year college with a boatload of debt and only previous little more education is something we've seen too often, and students need to know that they have someone in their corner.
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And as for history, standards, and values? From K-12 to colleges of all levels, our level of cultural and historical illiteracy is appalling. There are so many wonderful things to learn, and students need to know that their education is first and foremost in the priorities of their Community College Board.
Not the same unions, contractors and special interests who look on this system as a gigantic cash cow to milk...and without any regard to the students for whom they are supposed to serve. The students' needs must finally come first.
And that means breaking free of the lunacy that keeps us returning the same failed "leaders" to the Community College Board.
That means someone who believes our students are worth fighting for, and who believes that taxpayers deserve a first-rate return on their higher-education investment.
That person is Mark Isler.
Please vote for the person who will demand REAL higher learning in our community colleges, and for higher standards to be held not only for students...but for those teaching the students and for those paid to ensure our students' future educational and career successes.
That person is Mark Isler.
(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected] He also does regular commentary on the MarkIsler Radio Show on AM 870,and co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 14
Pub: Feb 17, 2015
