Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/17719
ROUND TABLE During the CTA Summer Institute at UCLA, we sat down with four CTA members to find out what they thought about issues surrounding the November election. In this candid conversation, Misao Brown, Scott Miller, Karen Lord-Eyewe, and Elizabeth Reeves-Arreaga shared their thoughts on the profession and their hopes for this election. CALIFORNIA EDUCATOR: There’s so much at stake in this November’s election. Why is this election important to you? ELIZABETH REEVES-ARREAGA: For me, it’s about opportunity. I was a young mother and high school dropout. After I got my GED, I knew community college was the best way for me to further my education. And I was only able to do that through programs like CARE and EOPS [a state program that provides support to low-income and disadvantaged college students]. Programs like these must stay in place for people who are already dis- advantaged to have the opportunity to move on. So I went from high school dropout to a Ph.D. program. I shouldn’t be the only per- son that’s like that. MISAO BROWN: I think you personify the pow- er of public education. And while funding for education and programs like these are vitally important, we must stay focused on Misao Brown, Alameda Education Association the bigger picture, too — making sure we help students in the way they learn, and that the doors are always open to everyone. This November’s election is important to public education. Do you think the candi- dates really understand that? SCOTT MILLER: My whole life has been in school either on one side of the desk or on the other side of the desk, and everybody thinks be- cause they went to school that they know what schools need — and they don’t. You know, it’s taken me 19 years and thousands of students to really figure out what works and what doesn’t. Any candidate that doesn’t un- derstand classroom teachers are the key to understanding what our students schools need is out of touch. That’s why Meg Whit- man’s plan for education makes me nervous. It’s not designed to build up our schools, but to continue the top-down sanctions that are destroying our neighborhood schools. 16 California Educator | OCTOBER 2010 SPECIAL ELECTION ISSUE Karen Lord-Eyewe, Association of Pleasanton Teachers Elizabeth Reeves-Arreaga, Long Beach City College Certificated Hourly Instructors Scott Miller, Hawthorne Elementary Teachers Association MISAO BROWN: The governorship is so impor- tant, because of the amount of influence the position has over education in this state. While the superintendent of public instruc- tion is elected, and we have a great candidate, former teacher Tom Torlakson, the members on the State Board of Education are appoint- ed by the governor. And we need people who have experience in education and understand firsthand the needs of students. KAREN LORD-EYEWE: Exactly. Some people view education like a business. That’s what I feel about Meg Whitman. She would come in and view our students as products. You know, you just do a little something, treat them all the same, and they come out educated. [Laughs.] That’s not how it works, or will work. Every child I teach is unique and responds dif- ferently to instruction, depending on a variety of factors that I may or may not be privy to knowing about.