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Life & Times Transcript
10/10/07 Coverage of Town Hall Los Angeles speakers on Life and Times is made possible by a grant from the Boeing Company. Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- They face language barriers, poverty and neighborhood violence. How are these kids beating the odds? Mikara Solomon Davis>> From the plant worker to the security guard to the kindergarten teacher to the parent that's volunteering in that kindergarten class, it's every single piece that makes it happen. Val Zavala>> And then, they called it El Camino Real. You know it as Ventura Boulevard and it runs through one of southern California's oldest settlements. 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>> It takes an affluent school with motivated kids and an experienced staff to get those high test scores, right? Not so. An elementary school in Carson is proving that minority students from a poor neighborhood can test just as high as their affluent counterparts. And what's the catalyst behind this success? A first-time principal who took the reins when she was only twenty-seven. Sam Louie has her story. Sam Louie>> Bunche Elementary School in Carson is like many urban schools in low-income neighborhoods. Half the students are black or Latino. All of them qualify for the free lunch program and most are living in bleak and rough neighborhoods. It wasn't surprising that student grades and test scores were well below average. Mikara Solomon Davis>> Academically, very low. Of all of my kids, some knew the sounds. Some knew their letters. None of them could read. Sam Louie>> That was before Mikara Solomon Davis became Bunche Elementary School's principal. Mikara Solomon Davis>> "How are you doing? How did you do today on the tests?" >> "Did good." Mikara Solomon Davis>> "Good." Anne Mills>> When Mikara came to Bunche Elementary is when things started to turn around for us. Sam Louie>> Since 2000, Bunche Elementary test scores have risen nearly one hundred percent. Teachers were relieved from many administrative tasks and she started an after-school and summer tutoring program. Mikara Solomon Davis>> "I like your shirt. Show me your shirt." Sam Louie>> Davis did it with no previous experience as a principal, no charter school status and no mass infusion of monies. Davis is biracial, black and Irish. She grew up in an upper middle-class neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Mikara Solomon Davis>> When I got to the classrooms here in Compton, I was shocked because how is it that because they live in this area, the expectation for them is totally different than what happened to me? Sam Louie>> Davis first came to know the Compton School District as a second grade teacher. After three years in the classroom, Davis decided to go back to school for a Masters degree in education from Columbia. At the age of twenty-seven, with no experience even as a vice principal, the district put Davis in charge of Bunche Elementary. Mikara Solomon Davis>> I really cared and felt like the children were my children and, if they don't get it now, what's going to happen to them in third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade? Sam Louie>> Davis made sweeping changes starting with strict discipline. She issued more than one hundred suspensions among four hundred fifty students. Mikara Solomon Davis>> As a student, if you don't respect the classroom, then you don't need to be there. Sam Louie>> The focus also shifted from just keeping the kids from failing to getting them to dream big. Mikara Solomon Davis>> I wanted to drill in their heads that they have to go to college. Sam Louie>> One technique? Name all the classrooms after four-year universities. Anne Mills was hired three years ago to teach fifth grade. All of the students make field trips to local colleges. Anne Mills>> They're so into going to college. I mean, college for them, you won't see a single child who will not say they're not going to college. Every one of our students thinks that they're going to college, knows that they're going to college and believes that. Alejandra Guizara>> I love school. I like how teachers try to challenge my mind. I love to study. Robert Davis>> We say work hard and be nice and behave and we say where do we go after high school? College, and after college, graduate school. Sam Louie>> So what kind of tangible results have taken place since Davis took control seven years ago? The school's test scores once ranked near the bottom of the California Academic Performance Index. In 1999, the school's average score was four fifty. By the end of the last school year, scores had soared to an astounding eight sixty-eight, well above the state target of eight hundred, and comparable to children from affluent districts. Anne Mills>> All of our students are as successful as the students in Beverly Hills and San Marino. The education that they're receiving here is absolutely comparable to that. It does not shock me at all when the scores come out. Sam Louie>> But there's no denying their surroundings offer challenges not seen elsewhere. Most of the students at Ralph Bunche Elementary School are bused in from Compton. Because of the social issues that plague this community such as poverty, crime and single parent households, the school developed a program to address these concerns. Mikara Solomon Davis>> I'm thinking about the fact that whatever is happening at home is happening. You know, "My dad got shot last night." If that can't be talked about, then I don't care about one plus one is two. That has to be allowed to breath, to exist and let that part of me be present so that I can now focus on what I'm trying to learn. Sam Louie>> A character education program gives students a forum to talk about their home life. Anne Mills>> Our kids come to school with a lot on their plate every day. But when they get to school, they know that they're in a safe atmosphere and they know that the teachers here love them and will do anything to help them. Sam Louie>> So if this kind of success can be achieved in such a quick turnaround, why isn't it happening more often? John Rogers is an assistant professor of education at UCLA. John Rogers>> From what I understand, you have a remarkable principal here, a well-trained principal who's brought in a staff, who's developed this staff over time, and has worked with the community, brought them in and created a school culture that's just focused on achievement and success. Sam Louie>> In his research, he says time and time again, an effective leader rallies everyone together with a common goal. Rogers runs a leadership program for principals. He says that great principals begin in the classroom as great teachers. John Rogers>> That's where the name of principal comes from. They were meant to be the principal teachers, the lead teachers, people who could lead instruction at a school site, who had a deep sense of what quality teaching and learning was. Sam Louie>> Davis had very little experience, but she did have one distinct advantage. The district gave her full control and oversight of the school much like that of a charter school. John Rogers>> She was able to bring in parents and create a climate where everybody was working together around a common set of themes, this idea that we want all of our young people to move on to college. Sam Louie>> Davis quickly replaced weak teachers with quality ones. Some retired and some left. Today, only two of the original twenty-one teachers remain. The new teachers were a lot like Davis, young, bright and fearless. Mikara Solomon Davis>> An attitude of no excuses for themselves, not being afraid to be held accountable to rigorous standardized state testing. Sam Louie>> But there's another component that's just as crucial: parental involvement. The school requires parents to sign a contract. Mikara Solomon Davis>> Being here with uniform, homework complete and on time really is a parental involvement issue. Karla Morales>> As parents, that's how it was because we know why the teacher has expected from us, but also we know what we can expect from them. Sam Louie>> So here's the sixty-four thousand dollar question. Can the success here at Bunche Elementary be duplicated in the hundreds of other poor performing schools across the state? John Rogers>> Individual school success does not necessarily point to how you're going to create system-wide success. Sam Louie>> Rogers doesn't think so because of the state's shortage of quality teachers. But that doesn't mean California educators shouldn't aim high. John Rogers>> As a society, we don't want to just have one Bunche Elementary that we can point to and say, "This is a distinguished school." We want to have every one of the nine thousand-plus public schools in California be distinguished schools. Sam Louie>> Davis now sees her job as part of a much larger mission. Mikara Solomon Davis>> I totally see education as a civil rights movement. This is where true equality can happen. "What did you get?" >> "Ninety-three." Mikara Solomon Davis>> "Okay. What did you get?" >> ""Ninety-three." Mikara Solomon Davis>> "All right. What did you get?" >> "Ninety-eight." Mikara Solomon Davis>> "So you guys are ninety percent or higher?" >> "One hundred percent." Mikara Solomon Davis>> "High five. That's awesome. Good job, you guys. I'll talk to you later. Keep up the good work." Sam Louie>> I'm Sam Louie 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>> Stop taxing corporations and stop harassing those corporations that behave unethically. That's the advice from -- would you believe it -- one of America's foremost liberals. That liberal is Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor and now a professor at Berkeley. He says that, if you want to reform corporate culture, hating Wal-Mart won't work. So what will? That's what I asked Robert Reich who was recently a guest at Town Hall Los Angeles. He's the former Secretary of Labor and author of the book, "Supercapitalism". He says that, if we want corporations to behave better, we'd better change the rules for all of them. Robert Reich>> You know, in the first decades of the twentieth century, we said no child labor in the United States, forty hour work week with time and a half overtime, we want better and safer work conditions. Well, that meant all prices of all the goods were a little bit higher. But we said, as a country and as a society, it's worth it. Laws and rules are the only things in a highly competitive world that are going to change the way companies behave. Val Zavala>> One of the prescriptions for reform that you suggest is pretty shocking, again, to some people who consider you a good liberal and that is you say eliminate taxes on corporations? Robert Reich>> Yes. I mean, corporations right now are avoiding a lot of taxes. Remember, they're pieces of paper and pieces of paper are filed in another country that has lower taxes. I say, if we're concerned about having companies or the people who really benefit from profits pay taxes, we should put the taxes on shareholders and have the company withhold just as the company does withhold employee earnings with regard to the income and the tax that has to be paid. Instead of using this fiction of corporations as people and allowing us to be hoodwinked by the notion that no taxation with representation, corporations pay income taxes and therefore they should be represented politically, let's lift the veil. Let's understand that corporations are not people, that only people pay taxes and therefore only people should be represented politically. Val Zavala>> So would you like to see a prohibition on all corporate donations to political candidates? Robert Reich>> Absolutely. I say corporations are not people. They should not be part of our political process. They should not have standing to sue the government against laws and regulations that they dislike. They shouldn't be criminalized because actually there are individuals in companies that might break the law and they should be hammered. But to criminalize a company makes no sense because corporations have no criminal intent because they have no morality to begin with. They're pieces of paper. The anthropomorphic fallacy, the notion that companies are people, continues to get us in deeper and deeper trouble. Val Zavala>> But didn't the courts create that notion, in your opinion? Robert Reich>> Well, the corporation has constitutional rights and part of my suggestion in this book is that we attack those constitutional rights. The courts are not bound by precedent, as we see with the current Supreme Court, and we ought to take that on with every other aspect of corporate personhood. Val Zavala>> The next question would be how do we get the citizen part of the American character bolstered and motivated to make these kinds of changes? Because we're enjoying all our consumer goods too much in many situations. Robert Reich>> Well, the first step is to get our thinking straight about corporations not being people, they cannot act morally, we can't expect them to and all the other things. The second step is to start a citizens movement. The system is not going to reform itself politically from the inside out in terms of money and politics, especially corporate money, political action committees, a bundling of executive money. No, the only we get that out of politics is we as citizens have a movement that says, for example, every candidate has got to set up a blind trust if they want campaign contributions and they may never know who contributed what, thereby severing the quid from the quo. Val Zavala>> That's interesting. Robert Reich>> There are many other things that we can do, but we have to do it. We can't wait for people in Washington to do it because they are reacting and advantaged in a way by the present system. Val Zavala>> But, you know, it's frustrating because even if I wanted to do something, where do I start? Where do I go? There's not an organization that has taken on this cause in particular. Robert Reich>> Val, I say to everybody -- every Progressive and even a lot of Conservatives are concerned about corporate power in terms of what their issues are, like having a better media that doesn't spew sex and violence, for example, the coarsening of America. I say to everybody that there is no way you are going to put constraints on the corporation unless you clean up politics first. Therefore, if you want to be a Progressive, if you want to be a Conservative, whatever your goal is in terms of what the rules should be, you've got to join together to rescue our democracy. Now how can we do that? What are the organizations to do that? The first decades of the twentieth century, the Progressive movement that took democracy away from the urban machines was a movement that sprang from the people, from the grassroots. There were about fifteen or twenty organizations, many, many different levels. People didn't wait for the organization. People created the organization. These days through the internet and through all sorts of other ways, we can begin to knit ourselves together politically. People can take action beginning tomorrow. Val Zavala>> Now let's just say that the American people don't wake up or are too, you know, busy watching their five hundred channels of cable television and nothing happens. We keep going down this route. What are the dangers? What kind of world are we looking at where supercapitalism just continues to grow? Robert Reich>> Well, the danger is that we as consumers and as investors continue to do better and better, but all the other values we believe in, global warming, for example, fighting global warming, avoiding a two-tiered society in which all of the benefits go to a fairly small number of people and most of the rest of society is anxious and is not really participating in the benefits. Val Zavala>> Struggling. Robert Reich>> Whatever you want to believe in, none of those public values are actually effectuated. We are very rich in a way as consumers and investors. We get choices, but as people who share values about our society should be and what the world ought to be, we are unable to articulate or find the common good. Val Zavala>> So in the end, we will end up with a society that's under greater stress, strain, tensions. I mean, it's inevitable? Robert Reich>> Well, we'll have a society in which people can fill up their houses with stuff and investors can get pretty good returns, but the people who do the best are going to be just a fairly small number of Americans. There are going to be a lot of values that are not achieved. Health care, global warming will continue to get worse. Corporations will completely run our politics and we will be engulfed in cynicism. Val Zavala>> And the alternative as you have mapped out in your book would create what kind of society? Robert Reich>> Well, the alternative is supercapitalism that continues to cater to consumers and investors where we have companies not expected to be moral creatures, but we citizens set the boundaries. We set the rules of the game. Democracy and capitalism are kept separate. Val Zavala>> Robert Reich, author of "Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy and Everyday Life", thank you so much for your thoughts. Robert Reich>> Thanks very much, Val. Val Zavala>> Robert Reich was a guest of Writers Bloc and Town Hall Los Angeles. For information on future speakers, you can go to their website at townhall-la.org. 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. Val Zavala>> It's been thirteen years since the Northridge earthquake and most people have finished their repairs with the exception of one house. It's hidden away in Encino and it's just now finishing earthquake repairs. So why did it take thirteen years? Well, as Vicki Curry tells us, this house is not your typical suburban ranch home. Vicki Curry>> Looking at this idyllic spot in Encino, it's tough to imagine the hardships it's endured over its one hundred fifty year history. This land and its two historic homes has survived different owners, changing fortunes, modern development and natural disasters, but its biggest threat may have been the Northridge earthquake. Mike Crosby>> In 1994, there was the big earthquake. Both this building and the two-story building were hit very hard. This wall right here just completely fell out. Vicki Curry>> The buildings were closed for more than a decade, but they recently reopened after extensive repairs. The De La Osa Adobe is the oldest structure in Los Encinos State Historic Park and the heart of what was once El Encino Rancho. Alexa Clausen>> The fact that it was built, salvaged, saved, pinned, repaired, you know, over and over again, just its sure ability to survive is pretty impressive. Vicki Curry>> The modern day history of this land starts in 1769. That's when the Spanish explorer Portola stayed for two days with the Native Americans who lived here. Alexa Clausen>> It was a village site, very old. Some archaeology tests it back to eight to ten thousand years old. It was believed to have been continuously occupied. The draw for the village to be here are two or three wonderful springs. For sure, the warm spring and a cold water spring. Vicki Curry>> The Spanish called it El Valle De Los Encinos, the Valley of the Oaks. And from that point on, the name Encino was attached to this land. At the end of the 1700s, the Catholic church chose a nearby spot for its San Fernando Mission. Alexa Clausen>> This Rancho was granted to three Indian natives who had worked at the mission and petitioned the Mexican government saying we would like this land. Vicki Curry>> However, the Indian families quickly began selling off pieces of their forty-five hundred acres to ranchero Vicente De La Osa. By 1849, he owned the entire property and built the adobe that still stands today. Alexa Clausen>> He did have cattle, but he was also known for his orchards. He was known for his vineyards and he was known for selling water. It was on the main road to travel by stage to Ventura and then inland too to connect onto stage travel into San Francisco. Vicki Curry>> Its location along El Camino Real, known these days as Ventura Boulevard, would help future owners survive tough times. A French family, the Garniers, bought the Rancho in 1868 and turned it into a sheep farm, but they continued to take in travelers and they made a number of changes to the property, adding this two-story building and lining the pond with stone. Alexa Clausen>> They had plumbed the buildings, which means they ran pipes from the spring so it was diverted there and then the overflow went into the pond, and they built bathhouses. You could stop and come and bathe in the warm water. It's shown that that particular warm spring is considered medicinal in that it has certain mineral qualities that people seek. It's a warm water spring and that was piped to the bathhouses so you could bathe in that too. Vicki Curry>> The Garniers also built a roadhouse along El Camino Real. Mike Crosby>> The stagecoach stop across the way used to be a gathering place of Basque people when they would come into town. Vicki Curry>> A string of Basque families took over El Encino Rancho starting in 1878 and focused on agriculture. Alexa Clausen>> And they went into dry farming. This was very common in the whole San Fernando Valley. Lima beans and then wheat and this was very, very typical of the whole region. Vicki Curry>> The last family to own the entire Rancho was the Amestoys. In 1916, they sold off nearly twelve hundred acres that became the city of Encino. Mike Crosby>> Once the water came down from the Owens Valley, more and more houses started to be built around in here. They were small farms. But then after World War II, all the servicemen came back into California and they wanted to buy houses. Vicki Curry>> The Amestoys slowly sold the rest of the land and, in 1945, a building syndicate took over the last hundred acres. Mike Crosby>> In 1949, there was a sign out in front of the adobe out on Ventura Boulevard saying that this property was going to be demolished. Vicki Curry>> A woman named Maria Stuart formed the Encino Historic Committee and persuaded state and local government to buy the remaining land and the historic buildings. The site was named Los Encinos State Historic Park. Alexa Clausen>> We have the five acres of the heart of the Rancho saved right here exactly the way it was on the exact spot that it was constructed. Vicki Curry>> The founding of the park might have been the end of the Rancho's story, but the devastation of the Northridge earthquake produced an unexpected opportunity to discover more of the Rancho's history. While looking at the damaged walls in one room, a conservator noticed bits of color peeking through the cracks. Alexa Clausen>> As she was taking little pieces of paint off, she started coming across these little decorative pieces. She found a corner of what looks like a frame, a hand-painted frame. When the pieces of plaster fell down and some of the walls were exposed, in time what was discovered was a wall decoration that matches the mid-nineteenth century French country homes. Vicki Curry>> And that's what this is? Alexa Clausen>> And that's what you're looking at. Vicki Curry>> So before the Northridge earthquake in 1994, these were just plain walls? And it was because of the earthquake that pieces fell off and exposed the hidden color? Alexa Clausen>> Right. Vicki Curry>> The experts discovered that, when the Garnier family lived at the Rancho during the 1870s, they had decorated the salon walls with this hand-done painting. This drawing shows what it probably looked like at the time. Alexa Clausen>> So the transformation from the Californio Adobe to this French country style home was in the evidence in the walls that was uncovered mainly due to the earthquake. Vicki Curry>> Apparently, the next owner immediately covered over the wall decoration, hiding those traces of a French country home under layers of paint and plaster for more than a hundred years. Alexa Clausen>> Its vividness and the bright colors are probably due to the fact that it was, you know, covered for so long. Vicki Curry>> But now it's uncovered and on display to the public. The newly-restored buildings at Los Encinos State Historic Park illustrate the life and times of the families that lived there. Alexa Clausen>> Each of the families have made an effort over the years to bring a token, to bring a small remembrance, so that it's here in the park. Each owner has really left a mark here and seemed to cherish it and hold onto it. Mike Crosby>> This is actually kind of a melting pot just like America is with all these different cultures, but it's our heritage. You know, it's the history of the land and we're lucky to still have something that's this old still living and breathing in Los Angeles. Val Zavala>> Los Encinos State Historic Park is open to the public and looking for volunteers to lead those tours. For information, you can go to their website at los-encinos.org. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. 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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