SOUTH L.A. STUDENTS DENIED BASIC RIGHT BY NOT PREPARING THEM FOR COLLEGE, WE LESSEN THEIR - AND OUR - FUTURE.

Byline: Marqueece Harris Dawson Local View

THE state of California should provide equal access to educational opportunities for all students, but African-American and Latino high schoolers in South Los Angeles are being denied this basic civil right. This June, hundreds of students will walk the aisle, receive their diploma - and find themselves with bleak prospects for college.

To obtain admittance to a four-year college in California, a student must have successfully completed what is called the A-G curriculum. A-G is a series of classes in English, math, science, foreign language and social studies. And in South L.A. high schools, these classes are either not offered at all or they are not offered in large enough quantities to accommodate the demand. Instead, our children are being placed in vocational classes such as cosmetology, floor covering and carpentry.

Only 14 percent of high-school graduates from South L.A. schools have the necessary classes to enter a four-year university, while 65 percent of students in primarily white schools meet the requirements, according to the Institution for Democracy, Education & Access at the University of Southern California.

Most of the African-American and Latino students in South L.A. are tracked in to low-wage labor, the military, the penitentiary or the morgue. This has a devastating effect on the immediate community and on all of California. When educational successes are diminished, crime goes up, economic development goes down and the work force as a whole is diminished.

There are many myths about placing all of the Los Angeles Unified School District on a college prep track:

One says students do not want to attend college. In my work, I have run across hundreds and hundreds of youths from South L.A. schools who do want to attain a higher education. It is heartbreaking to see the devastation on students' faces when they successfully complete four years of high school only to find they were not provided with the classes necessary for college admittance.

Another says these children cannot pass the necessary classes because they enter high school unprepared. One major solution is to improve our middle schools, but even so, studies show that students do much better when challenged with a rigorous curriculum because it raises the bar for them. Many students do not drop out of high school because they are challenged; they drop out because they are bored. Students would be better able to pass the classes if they received the resources, books and quality teachers found at other schools throughout LAUSD.

A third myth says that if we place everyone on a college prep course, there will be no one to enter the vocational work force. But the reality is that even to succeed in a vocational occupation, a student must have many of the same skills acquired on the A-G track. A plumber needs chemistry and a carpenter needs algebra. Today's employers are seeking some of the very same skills in new hires as college admittance counselors. Give all students the skills to succeed in life, and allow them to make their own decision about college.

Finally, critics say it would be too expensive to place all of the LAUSD on a college prep track. But if the state can afford to build prison after prison and can afford to give corporations hefty tax cuts, then the state can also afford to give all students in California a shot at a successful future.

Education is a basic civil right that should be protected whether a student is black, Latino or white; rich, middle class or poor. It is essential to the growth and development of our children, our future, our state and our country.