College? Not Me : Sylmar High Ranks Last in Seniors Who Continue

Sylmar High School officials said they were disturbed but not surprised to learn last week that they send fewer seniors to college than any other high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

College counselor Robert Blew said it has been that way since he started teaching at the school in 1963. He and Principal Ernest F. Scarcelli said a big reason is that most Sylmar families earn a decent blue-collar living without a college education and pass on that tradition to their children.

“Our kids don’t go to UC,” said Blew, who nonetheless has succeeded in getting some of them to a University of California campus. “People in Sylmar have a slightly different background than anywhere else. They are more rural, more traditional; there is less emphasis on formal education.”

Other Officials Disagree

Educators outside the district--as well as college counselors at other high schools that also serve predominantly Latino, working-class neighborhoods--say that explanation isn’t very good.

“Generally in low-performing schools, the staff and administration find a lot of excuses,” said Katrina Bias, a former teacher and principal who is now working for the Achievement Council, a nonprofit educational consulting and research organization based in Oakland. “Unfortunately, that kind of attitude lowers expectations and doesn’t let the kids think they can do much.”

Roberta Weintraub, the president of the school board, agreed with Bias. “The principal has a right to his own opinion, but I don’t know if that argument holds water,” she said. “If you don’t expect kids to make it, then they won’t.”

A district report issued last week said 132 seniors, only a quarter of Sylmar’s 1986 senior class, went on to a 2- or 4-year California college. By comparison, Lincoln High School in East Los Angeles, whose students score about the same as Sylmar’s in state achievement tests, sent more than half of its 1986 senior class to college. At both Granada Hills and Taft high schools, about 78% of the 1986 seniors went to college, the highest percentage in the Los Angeles district.

Daniel M. Isaacs, the district official in charge of Los Angeles high schools, said the report will be used to identify successful college-admission programs so they can be tried at low-achieving schools. “We are all accountable,” he said.

College counselors at more successful high schools said it is possible to change attitudes among parents and students in working-class neighborhoods. The key is persistence, they said.

In East Los Angeles, Lincoln High School college counselor Joe Lenihan said it’s tough to persuade many of his students that college is worth the effort.

“Most kids aren’t convinced that the way out of economic deprivation is by going to college,” Lenihan said. “If they were, they’d all be going. That’s why we have to convince them.”

To do that, Lenihan said, he invites parents to college nights, some in English, some in Spanish, and gives seminars on how to apply for financial aid. On a good night, he said, 200 to 300 attend.

San Fernando High School college counselor Charlotte Bonner said most parents in working-class neighborhoods have not gone to college and have to be told the benefits of college for their children.

“In this community, this might be their last chance,” said Bonner. “Without an education, they’re headed for trouble.”

Bonner said she must be persistent to get parents to attend college-information meetings. “I write letters, send notes home and call them,” she said.

But Ann Clark, a former college counselor at Sylmar, said the school tried to change attitudes, without success. “It was very frustrating,” she said.

Clark, who left Sylmar two years ago to become the college counselor at Chatsworth High School, recalled that Sylmar was last among Los Angeles schools sending seniors to college as far back as 1969, when she started teaching there. The situation never changed, she said.

Indifference Cited

“There is a lack of parental encouragement for college that stems from the fact that they feel they have been successful without it,” Clark said. “We had many students whose parents said, ‘We don’t care whether you go on to college.’ ”

But one parent, Linda Wright, who is active with the school’s Parent Teacher Student Assn. and works at Sylmar as an educational aide, said she doesn’t think parents and students at the school are much different from those anywhere else.

“In my circle of friends, there are a great deal who want their kids to go on to college, and there are some that don’t,” said Wright, who has lived in the area 15 years and has two daughters at Sylmar High School. “My oldest daughter is applying to college now.”

Most students interviewed in two classes last week said they want to go to college. In a senior government class made up of the school’s brightest students, most said they are now applying to colleges such as Cal State Northridge and UCLA.

“My parents definitely want me to go to college,” said senior Raina Gilliam. “Most of my friends want to go.”

‘Unfair Assessment’

The teacher, Art Shapero, said measures such as the district report do not provide a fair assessment of Sylmar students. Although he expects that the school’s smartest youngsters will go to college, many others will do well without more formal education, he said.

“These kids are more accepting of their position in society,” said Shapero, who has taught at Sylmar nearly 20 years. “They don’t have the upward mobility of some other groups, but they’re not going to be hanging out on the streets; they’ll be getting jobs and being productive.”

In an algebra class, sophomore Lupe Lopez, 16, said she wants to go to college to avoid the factory work that others in her family have had to do. She said her family has pressured her to quit school to work or to get married, but she persists because “college will be the only way to reach my goals.”

Despite interest shown by the students, Sylmar High School administrators say parent interest remains limited. So few used to show up for College Night that the school has not offered one in recent years. Last year, about 30 parents and students showed up for a seminar on college financial aid, school officials said.

‘Want to Improve’

“We are not pleased,” said Scarcelli, who has been principal since 1985. “It’s been this way for a number of years, but we want to improve.”

District officials are hoping that more Sylmar students go on to college with the help of two experimental programs. The school qualified for the programs last year because of its low achievement record.

One plan, started with state funds, attempts to reduce the school’s 50% dropout rate by counseling troubled students who have low grades. George Fujimoto, a 20-year district counselor who has been assigned to the school under the program, said students there face the same pressures as students in other Los Angeles-area high schools. In counseling sessions, students say they want to quit school because they are bored, have personal and family problems, or believe that they need to work full time, Fujimoto said.

“Generally, the students and parents here are no different than the other schools I’ve worked at,” Fujimoto said. Many working class parents at any school have to be sold on college, he said.

Program Successful

But before anyone can think of going to college, they must complete high school, Fujimoto said. Last year, none of the 106 students referred to Fujimoto dropped out. All either stayed at Sylmar or transferred to another school. “So far, we have been successful,” he said.

The other new program, being tried at three other Los Angeles high schools also, is designed to encourage seniors to apply to local community colleges.

Marjorie Denker, a district employee who runs the Sylmar High School program, talks to seniors with low grades to persuade them that “even though they may have messed up here, we know that they can do better at a community college.” She shows them how to fill out applications and how to get financial aid.

“Even if they want to be a cosmetologist or an auto mechanic, I encourage them to take some classes that will help them if they ever want to own their own business,” Denker said.