Lt. Gov. John Garamendi convened with local educators, business people and community members at a Cal Poly forum Tuesday to assess the conditions of the Central Coast’s school systems, claiming that if schools statewide do not change soon, California’s economy could continue on a downward spiral.
As part of his Listening Tour Forum, Garamendi has been traveling to campuses throughout the California State University system since he assumed the post of lieutenant governor in January. Cal Poly is the seventh stop on the tour, which he hopes to complete (at least in the CSU system) by June 2008.
Among those on the 11-member panel were: Fourth-grade teacher Jaime Cuello, whose college-paraphernalia-laden room inspires students, many of whom come from migrant families, that they too can attend college; James Becker, vice president of Diablo Canyon Power Plant, who addressed the need for more technical jobs and nuclear engineers in an industry that is starting to pick up but whose work force will largely retire within the next decade; and Brandon Sousa, Associated Students Inc. president.
Claiming that the work force of the future lies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, many on the panel urged for a fostering of these subjects in younger students.
“Our ability to remain globally competitive as a state depends especially on our capacity for scientific and technological innovation,” Cal Poly President Warren Baker said. “This, in turn, depends upon our ability to engage students at a young age in the study of science and mathematics, and to encourage them to embark upon college and university programs in the scientific and technological fields.”
Thirty-five percent of science teachers and 40 percent of math teachers at the elementary level are under-prepared, he said. There is a statewide need for more competent, effective and inspiring teachers.
Others, such as the county’s superintendent of schools, Julian Crocker, argued for the improvement of teachers already in the field.
“(We need to focus on) training the existing work force, particularly at the elementary and middle school levels. Most of our teachers at (these) levels do not have science or math backgrounds,” Crocker said. “We don’t need to reinvent what needs to be done. We really need to focus on implementing what we know we need to do and move forward with it.”
Garamendi said his goals in this tour are twofold: He is trying to show people that investment in education is imperative and to advocate for quality employees in the workplace.
“The goal that I have is to awake California to the necessity of investing in education,” Garamendi said. “As we go through these campuses, not only do I learn what the need of the campuses are.but I am also building a political group to adequately invest in education.
“To do so requires two things: As David Garth (president of the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce) said, the business community has lost confidence in the education system. That confidence has to be re-instilled, with the business community recognizing that they’re never going to get the workers they need if they abandon the education system. We have to make the education system work, and that means it must be willing to change.”
He hopes to use what he learns at the 23 CSU campuses to implement new legislation – ones that allow the education system to change and modify itself to better fit specific community needs.
“It is wonderful to be on campuses to listen, to learn, and then to take these experiences and talk to five legislators about what fee increase means and how it stops students from coming to school,” Garamendi said.
“We’ve increased these student fees to a point where we’re keeping students out of the system and therefore denying money that the system needs. This is an absurd situation that we are getting ourselves into.”