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Life & Times Transcript
08/03/06 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- It used to be called Vocational Education. What's changed besides the name? Isabel Vasquez>> African Americans and Latinos still have a little bit of a problem in the sense that there's a feeling that students of color were attracted to what we call Vocational Ed and not allowed to pursue college careers. Val Zavala>> And then, aging lovers are in the cinematic spotlight this week. Will our critics feel they stand the test of time? It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> Remember those days in high school when certain kids were relegated to woodshop? Well, Vocational Education was phased out in the 1970s and 1980s, but now we're suffering the consequences, serious future shortages of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, even air traffic controllers. So is it time to return to vocational training? As Toni Guinyard tells us, it could be a case of back to the future. [Film Clip] Toni Guinyard>> These photographs tell a story about people who once lived and learned in the city of Los Angeles, photos of adult education students in class. Over the years, the program has evolved -- Philip Struyk>> "There's probably a servicing port someplace." Toni Guinyard>> -- to reflect the technical demands of California's job market and it's not called Vocational Education anymore. Isabel Vasquez>> It's called Career Technical Education to include all those new fields that didn't exist a hundred fifty years ago when adult education began. Toni Guinyard>> Isabel Vasquez is the Outreach Coordinator of Adult and Career Education for the Los Angeles Unified School District. We met her at the North Valley Regional Occupational Center Aviation Center. Isabel Vasquez>> In aviation, every time an airplane leaves LAX, somebody has to fuel it, somebody has to make sure that it's operating. Those are jobs that can't be outsourced. We need them here and we have to develop a workforce that's able to respond to that. Toni Guinyard>> Students in Career Tech programs represent the changing face of adult education. Chris Zapata>> I don't want to go to college. I'm not a hundred percent "A" student. I don't like sitting in class and taking notes, so my idea was to do something I love and that was mechanics. Robyn Crockett>> I was a very good student, straight A's, and I was at Glendale Community College. I studied dance, culinary arts, some general courses. I have a hard time concentrating in a classroom setting. I like to be out doing something, working with my hands. I want to be an aircraft mechanic either for a commercial airline or a private company. Toni Guinyard>> Adult Ed was once seen as nothing more than an alternative for students who simply couldn't cut it in college, but not anymore. [Film Clip] Christian Umo>> My current goal is to be a corporate pilot. My life goal is to be a career test pilot. Toni Guinyard>> Christian Umo and Jennifer Norvell -- Jennifer Norvell>> I'm really interested in engines. Toni Guinyard>> -- are students in North Valley's Aviation Maintenance and Repair classes. Jennifer had first enrolled in college. Jennifer Norvell>> I tried it and I didn't stay. I kind of got bored with it. Toni Guinyard>> And then? Jennifer Norvell>> I came here. Toni Guinyard>> Christian enrolled here one week after graduating from high school. He eats, sleeps and breathes about anything and everything to do with aviation. Christian Umo>> My passion is what I couldn't imagine doing anything else. I couldn't imagine being a doctor. You want to be a lawyer? No, I don't want to be a lawyer. Why? It's what I want to do. It's what's inside. You know, it's my passion. That's the only word I can use to explain it. It's passion. Toni Guinyard>> Christian plans to go to college later. Jennifer hopes to one day go back to college too. They defy the image of the Adult Ed student who learns a trade simply because they can't succeed in school. Isabel Vasquez>> I know that there's some baggage associated with what we used to call Vocational Ed, especially for people of color. African American and Latino, still have a little bit of a problem in the sense that there's a feeling that students of color were attracted to what we call Vocational Ed and not allowed to pursue college careers. Toni Guinyard>> Now Adult Education is seen as a program that complements college. Dr. Laurel Adler>> You don't have to have an either/or. You don't have to. That's the thing. Toni Guinyard>> Dr. Laurel Adler is Superintendent of the East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program and Technical Center. Dr. Laurel Adler>> It used to be that students that were focused, that counselors would see this as strictly for kids who were not going on to college. Now we get students who are premed, who want to be doctors, who want to be lawyers, who want to be engineers, and this is their first step of getting a true idea of what it's like in the field. Toni Guinyard>> The East San Gabriel Valley Program has redefined the term of hands-on experience. We visited on the day emergency medical students tested their skills during a simulation drill. Scott Snedeker>> This particular type of scenario that we set up today was auto versus pedestrian, hit and run. So they have to come in and they'll do their patient assessment. [Film Clip] Scott Snedeker>> They'll do all the critical intervention. [Film Clip] Scott Snedeker>> Treat the patient, get him loaded up and get him to the hospital. When we do these simulations, I mean we teach it very slow in class, but when we do these real world experiences, it's got to be fast-paced and quick like it would be in the real world. Toni Guinyard>> We watched the drill with Aaron Roman, a former EMT student who is now a paramedic. Aaron Roman>> As I was looking, I was kind of, you know, going down my list of checkpoints, so to speak. They pretty much hit every one. I was impressed, actually. Toni Guinyard>> The overall Adult Education program here caught the attention of the James Irvine Foundation. The Foundation named East Valley one of six model programs for its newly-formed California Center for College and Career. Connect-ED, as it's called, hopes to blend academics with technical and career training at the high school level. Dr. Laurel Adler>> In these pathways, whether it's a medical like we've been seeing today or it's child development or any other arenas that they have an opportunity to understand why they need to learn some of these academics so that they're learning the academic skills and the career skills together. Toni Guinyard>> The Irvine Foundation committed six million dollars to develop the Connect-ED program. That pledge came shortly after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger earmarked fifty million dollars in the state budget to expand career test programs in middle and high schools and community colleges. Isabel Vasquez>> It's a good thing that more people, both the private sector and the public officials, are talking about reinvesting in career technical education. Toni Guinyard>> Why do you think that's happening now? Isabel Vasquez>> Because there's a shortage in some career technical education fields. Dr. Laurel Adler>> For a lot of these kids, if you just engage them in something that challenges them on a real-life basis, you can get that connection back and then the rest of their day lights up. They'll say now I understand why I'm taking that math class. Now I understand why I need to write. Toni Guinyard>> Just take Jennifer, for example, the aviation student who said she didn't fit in college. Talk about engines and her demeanor changes. Jennifer Norvell>> The power of it, basically, and the physics, the chemistry and how all the components are working together with each other. It's similar almost to a human body in a certain kind of way in the way all the systems come together and then produce, you know, into an aircraft that flies. Toni Guinyard>> You love this, don't you? Jennifer Norvell>> I do (laughter). Toni Guinyard>> She, like so many others before her, decided adult education was a perfect fit. Philip Struyk>> We're a country of second and third and fourth and fifth chances, so a person in their midlife can change their career by going to an adult school like this, and I think that's the beauty of adult education. Toni Guinyard>> Adult Ed, one hundred fifty years old and counting, a stepping stone to a career or college. I'm Toni Guinyard for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> It's called Plan B, or the "morning after" pill and supporters say that this birth control should be available to all women over the counter. But for the past two years, the FDA and the Bush administration have blocked Plan B, but now things seem to be changing. Susan Wood is a top research scientist with a PhD in biology. In 2000, she became Director of the Office of Women's Health at the FDA, but five years later, she resigned in protest over the FDA's failure to make emergency contraception, marketed as Plan B, available to women easily without a prescription. When did it first become available to women in any form? Susan Wood>> Well, physicians and women have been using high-dose birth control pills to act as an emergency contraception or a morning after pill for decades actually. Doctors would just tell their patients to take four or eight of their pill pack, depending on the product, and use that if they needed to because of a contraceptive failure, a condom broke or something happened that led to unprotected sex. This has been around, as I said, for decades. But in the late 1990s, products came in to the market that were dedicatedly packaged of those high-dose birth control pills so that a physician could actually just prescribe it directly and not have to figure out which pack of pills you have and what are the number of pills you should take, so it made it much simpler and much more easy to use. So it was approved as a prescription product, specifically Plan B, which is progesterone only. It was approved in 1999. Val Zavala>> So it was approved by the FDA and people should understand that this, often called the morning after pill, is distinct from RU486, which is called the abortion pill? Susan Wood>> Absolutely. RU486 does in fact cause a medical abortion and it's a very different product. RU486 is actually an anti-progestin and this product is actually a progesterone, so they do work in opposite ways. RU486 will interrupt an established pregnancy and, in fact, terminate that pregnancy. But if you happen to be pregnant and take Plan B emergency contraception, it actually won't affect that pregnancy at all. You'll still be pregnant and it won't harm the pregnancy. It's in fact sometimes given to pregnant women to help them hold on to a pregnancy if they're prone to miscarriage. What it does do, though, before you're pregnant, it will prevent you from ovulating, will possibly prevent an egg and sperm from getting together and possibly -- you can't rule it out -- act by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. Now I have to point out that those are exactly the same mechanisms that regular birth control pills use and that the IUD uses, or in fact it's the same way that breast feeding works by increasing your progesterone levels. Breast feeding reduces your risk of getting pregnant. All of these work by increasing those regular reproductive hormones to prevent you from getting pregnant, unlike RU486 which will cause an abortion. Very different. Val Zavala>> So this clearly falls in the category of contraception. So what happened in the process politically to get this approved for over the counter? Susan Wood>> What happened was, it came in and the first problem that arose was use by young teens. The issue was raised that maybe they wouldn't know how to use it properly or that there would be a problem for young teens taking it. In fact, the evidence is very clear. Young teens won't increase risky sexual behavior, they don't change their regular use of contraception. There's no reason to expect it to be misused or abused. But nonetheless, in the spring of 2004, the first problem arose and the product was denied based on the issue of very young teens. Val Zavala>> So the concern about teens prevented it from being approved and what happened then? Susan Wood>> Well, there was still hope that, if the company came back in with an application that essentially kept its prescription status for very young teens and non-prescription status for everyone else, we could get to an approval. It would not be the right decision in terms of cutting out the teens which was, I think, a mistake. But nonetheless, it would move us in the right direction. We'd at least have it available for those seventeen and older over the counter and that would be an incremental step in the right direction. The Center director believed that would happen and I certainly believed him that he believed it, so we moved forward and the company did come back in with that application. By January of 2005, they were prepared to approve. At that point, this is where we really don't know what happened. It was blocked and delayed until late in the summer and no one inside the agency seemed to know -- of the professional staff, of the scientists and the people who worked there as career -- why there was this delay. I haven't spoken to anyone who's given me a good understanding as to why this would be seen as controversial because I think the vast majority of people in the United States don't have a problem with contraception for adults, which is essentially what we're talking about here. But yet, it must have been so controversial in some circles that the FDA was not allowed to issue a decision. California actually, with several other states, has essentially stepped away from the FDA on this, so that is a step forward. Pharmacists do need to now stock it and dispense it. Val Zavala>> Thank you so much for your time. Susan Wood>> Thank you. Val Zavala>> Under the FDA's latest proposal, Plan B would be available over the counter without a prescription to all women eighteen and over. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Larry Mantle>> Welcome to FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC. Our first film is the drama, "The Night Listener", starring Robin Williams and Toni Collette. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> I'm joined this week by film critics Andy Klein of City Beat and Valley Beat, and Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com. Andy, what did you think of "The Night Listener"? Andy Klein>> This is an interesting film, Larry. It's one of Robin Williams' dead serious films like "One Hour Photo" and "Insomnia". He plays a DJ who spins stories about his own life at night on the radio and he kind of -- there's an uneasy thing there where he co-ops his friends and lovers to, you know, as part of his career. He gets a phone call from a fourteen year old kid who has all these really grueling stories of abuse and having just this horrible life. After a while, as he takes up this kid's case and helps him get a book contract, he begins to suspect that the kid in fact doesn't exist. He never gets to meet him. He's always talking to the kid kind of through the kid's aunt who looks after him, played by Toni Collette very, very well. At a certain point, he goes to investigate. It's not a great film, but it is kind of engrossing. It brings up some interesting issues about the way public people use their own lives and the way that can backfire on them. Larry Mantle>> It was a dual award winner at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The Independent movie, "Quinceanera" is set in Los Angeles's Echo Park. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> Henry, what did you think of "Quinceanera"? Henry Sheehan>> Well, this exactly the type of film I think that American Independent Cinema should be involved with. It's set in Echo Park in Los Angeles, which is a community of Mexican Americans and Latin American Americans that's currently changing. It's being gentrified and, as is often the case, the gentrification is being led by, let's say, the gay community or members of the gay community. There's this young woman played very well by Emily Rios and her character's name is Magdalena. She's about to have her Quinceanera when she becomes pregnant, which infuriates her father who's a storefront Protestant minister, although her mother is more sympathetic. But the complicating factor is that Magdalena insists that she's never had sexual intercourse. As the film goes on, you come to believe her. You actually believe that, yes, this girl really is a virgin and she's pregnant. Not in terms of a miracle, but something seems to have happened. The film, which is directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, who also collaborated on the script together, is very naturalistic, very realistic, and it kind of brings you into the story. There's a sub-plot which turns out to be necessary to the resolution of the film involving her cousin who's a gangbanger who's gay and who gets involved with two gentrified -- part of it I went with and part of it was obviously too functional. But again, this is a film really that American Independent Cinema should be producing and I would recommend it on that basis alone. Larry Mantle>> The dating scene of a Florida retirement community is told in the film, "Boynton Beach Club". It stars an ensemble cast of some Hollywood favorites and the film is directed by Susan Seidelman. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> "Boynton Beach Club", Andy? Andy Klein>> This is a romantic comedy essentially for the retirement set. I don't know how else to put it and, you know, it's not like I won't be there soon. It takes place in Boynton Beach, Florida where there are a lot of retired people. They all go to this bereavement club for people who've lost their spouses. We follow a group of them and their interwoven stories. Dyan Cannon is sort of romancing Michael Nouri and we have Sally Kellerman and Len Cariou and Brenda Vaccaro is in it and Joseph Bologna. The problem with this film -- it's directed by Susan Seidelman who did "Desperately Seeking Susan" -- it's a movie where it's based on her mother's stories, so the people and their culture are completely twenty years too old for even the actors here. So there's this sense of dislocation where, you know, they look back to their high school days listening to rock and roll, but really they're listening to Glenn Miller. It's very weird that way. Larry Mantle>> And finally this week, the French film, "Changing Times", directed by Andre Techine. The movie stars Gerard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> Henry, what did you think of "Changing Times"? Henry Sheehan>> This is another good film from Andre Techine about the complications of love. Boy, it's really complicated here. The film opens with Gerard Depardieu who's playing an engineer. He's in Tangiers and he's being taken to a building site. He goes down into a flooded pit and is covered up by dirt. There's like a mini avalanche and he's covered. Then the movie flashes back to his arrival in Tangiers and it turns out that he's going to approach an old love played by Catherine Deneuve and, of course, Depardieu and Deneuve are great co-stars over the last twenty year or maybe even more. They broke up and he's been carrying the torch for her for many years. She's kind of forgotten it, but yet there are more love stories and more complications. Techine starts out with like these kind of schematic structures, then totally explodes them and letting love find its own peculiar path. This might not be as good as "Wild Reeds", but it's a really very good film. I highly recommend it. Larry Mantle>> Do you agree, Andy? Andy Klein>> Yeah, I thought this was the best film that I saw opening this week. Depardieu and Deneuve, as Henry said, have this history and they have this baggage on the screen and that's really a wonderful thing that they use. There are these other stories. Gilbert Melki, who plays Deneuve's husband, has his own romantic problems. But there's a great deal of insight here and it constantly goes to places that you really don't expect it to go. Larry Mantle>> Thanks for joining us for another FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC joined by critics Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com, and Andy Klein of City Beat and Valley Beat. Please join us again next week at this same time for the next FilmWeek on Life and Times. Val Zavala>> KPCC broadcasts the hour version of FilmWeek Fridays at eleven a.m. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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