By Jennifer Baik
Assistant News Editor
A brilliant math teacher once said, “If you have ‘ganas’ (the desire), you can do almost anything.”
These were the wise words of Jaime Escalante, an influential inner-city educator.
Many liberal arts majors who are studying to become teachers are expressing their desire for inner-city placements for their observation hours.
Increased awareness and concern for bettering the community has heightened the interest of Pepperdine’s student teachers in underprivileged neighborhoods.
“We’ve seen more interest in students about teaching in the inner-cities ever since President Dr. Andrew K. Benton presented ‘The First Year’ last year, a film about the lives of five first-year teachers placed in the inner-city,” said Betty Glass, coordinator of student teaching at Pepperdine.
“The First Year,” a film that was shown in Smothers Theatre on Oct. 22, chronicled the lives of five inner-city teachers in a moving documentary that showed the level of commitment of these teachers toward their students.
Many students are requesting to do their 20 hours of observation from their upper division education courses at a low-income, underserved school district.
The observation hours are a requirement for all liberal arts majors who are planning to get their teaching credentials from Pepperdine.
“It’s the type of students we draw,” said Susan Giboney, credential analyst and a professor who teaches Education 551, Early Child Growth and Development. “They are becoming more aware of the world and want to satisfy other’s needs instead of their own.”
Dyishella Sellers, a senior liberal arts major with a math concentration, will be graduating this April and is expecting to receive her teaching credential by December.
Sellers came to Pepperdine with two things on her mind. First, to receive her teaching degree and second, to help others achieve their dreams in life.
“As a freshman, it wasn’t even a question in my mind to teach,” Sellers said. “I felt like I could really make a difference with the students in the inner-city.”
Sellers, like others, has been aware of the programs at Pepperdine such as School on Wheels and the Vital Intervention Directional Alternatives program (VIDA), both of which offer insights about teaching in the inner-city districts such as in East L.A. and underserved populations such as San Fernando, both part of the L.A. Unified School District.
Three years ago, Dr. Claudette Wilson added School on Wheels to her Education 561 (Educational Psychology) class, a program that provides educational assistance to children of homeless families from kindergarten through the 12th grade. They usually live in shelters, motels, cars or on the street.
Many of Wilson’s students came back with a clear understanding of the socioeconomic disadvantages of these urbanized areas and were inspired to reach out to these communities and shelters such as the Don King Shelter located in South Central L.A.
“My students are touched by what they experience there,” Wilson said. “They realize that these are good kids but need structures in their lives.”
The VIDA program, led by Deputy Sheriff Thomas Spiegle of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, was implemented into Pepperdine’s Education 562 (School and Society) class last semester.
The VIDA program is designed to partner “at-risk” youth with law enforcement, helping to keep them away from influences of the gang cultures and the criminal element.
Also, to encourage teaching in multicultural/bilingual school settings, all of the multiple-subject (elementary) student teachers are placed in a school in Oxnard which has primarily low-income Hispanic students.
Pearl Arredondo, a sophomore transfer from California State Univ-ersity Northridge, is studying to become special education teacher in the inner-city.
“I grew up in the inner-city so I know what it’s like to not have options,” Arredondo said.
Jenkin’s Education 562 class serves as a good resource for learning about urban education.
“My strong desire to teach this class is fueled by the cruel realities that many urban youths experience and a need to create awareness by teaching,” Jenkins said.
There are four problems associated with inner-city placement for student teachers.
One is that many of Pepperdine students do not want to drive that far for their observation hours.
Some have already dropped out of their placements because they have gotten off-campus jobs that require their time, and they simply do not have enough time to get to some of these inner-city schools.
Another is when students begin their part-time student teaching, which requires 160 hours a semester, they will still need to get back to campus for their seminars and methods classes by 4 p.m., which is almost impossible if they are placed in the inner-city.
The third reason is that there are safety issues in driving that the students, faculty, and the parents are concerned about.
Finally, many inner-city teachers are on special emergency credentials or are teachers in training themselves, and therefore do not qualify to guide Pepperdine students as master teachers according to the state’s educational standards.
February 14, 2002