A Los Angeles area high school has eliminated honors classes because they failed to enroll enough Latino and Black students. At the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, honors classes were replaced at Culver City High School with a one-size-fits-all methodology that administrators argued would give students of all races equal educational opportunities.
Several parents attended the school board meeting last month and presented a two-page resolution, demanding the Culver City Unified School District to reinstate the honors courses.
“I have a child in the high school,” one mother spoke out to the school board. “It is too easy in his classroom. They say, ‘Mom, they say it’s equity, they say that’s the reason and therefore it’s okay.’ I want my child to be challenged.” She went on to add, “We are immigrants. We came to this country to have a better life, a better education…we want to be able to give them a better education…because this is why we chose Culver City.”
New in the fall of 2022, freshmen and sophomores have been offered only one level of English. Prior to this school year, students were able to opt into honors classes—these advanced classes may have more clout with regard to college acceptances. School officials argued that implementing an approach where all students learn at the same level results in an equal playing field during their lower classmen years. The honors classes would then be available to junior and senior students.
Parents gathered to represent the Culver City Families for Education and Equity and declared that a history of inequity and educational imbalance requires a vigorous and diverse range of learning opportunities to enable all students at varying levels of ability to get the assistance needed to attain their maximum potential.
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