Ask a Magnet Yenta

LATIN in the LAUSD

Dear Magnet Yenta,

I have two middle-schoolers who are attending "Washington Latin," a public charter school in Washington, DC that has a classical curriculum. We will be moving to L.A. in summer 2007 and I would LOVE to find a near-identical school.   

Is there any such school in LAUSD?  If not, do you happen to know if there are any private schools? Thank you for your help!

Valerie Ploumpis

Magnet Yenta Sandra Tsing Loh writes...

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Dear Valerie,

Thanks so much for your shout out from DC! Thanks to your tip, we have all perused the Washington Latin website with great interest and have concluded we all wish to go there, immediately. When I asked a DC friend about the school, he waxed further euphoric about its Northwest location "along Embassy Row, where Mass. Ave heads toward the upper stratosphere of income bracket. Lovely avenue. Dick Cheney and the Archbishop close by. Very close to toney private schools St. Albans, Sidwell Friends, etc."

All right, then. Due to Wash Latin’s cozy proximity to not just the Archbishop but St. Albans, we do have to take a quick Magnet Yenta/Area Code 818 or 323/East of the 405 (and you’ll see what that means when you get here) moment and parse possible meanings behind the phrase "near-identical school." On the one hand, Valerie, neither of us can deny that certain American parents of the upper middle-class ilk (certain APOTUMCI) do try to finagle urban charter schools as a way of. . . Oh, what do you call it? Fleeing the poor. And one could see how one might encourage such class separation
via canny choice of curriculum, venturing into the projects (or similar) and saying, "Hands up everyone whose number one priority for their teens is a daily Socratic dialogue, and close reading of The Aeniad. No one? Well, can’t say we didn’t ask ya! Bye now."

But we sense your family isn’t that shallow. (How could you be--you wrote to our blog!) No no no, like all free-thinking citizens of a democracy, we sense you’re passionate about finding a great school for your children because, through an excellent education, ad vitam Paramus -- "We prepare for life!" (As opposed to "We prepare for law!" Or: "We prepare for investment banking!")   

If it’s Latin you’re after, it can be found in LAUSD schools ranging from Venice High (in the Foreign Language Magnet, along with Mandarin and Italian) to Walter Reed Middle School (via, for instance, the individualized honors program). (And, as things do continually change, we invite readers to write us with corrections or additions on the topic: LATIN in the LAUSD.) Perhaps closest to Washington Latin on paper is Renaissance Arts Academy in Eagle Rock, a charter school whose curriculum features not just Latin but an intense arts focus, including required study of musical instruments. 

By the way, this recommendation comes to us via LAUSD board member David Tokofsky who does whimsically note, ever the contrarian, that he’s partial not so much to the Renaissance but the Medieval Period, suggesting that "the Modern Era is over-rated, and the so-called Dark Ages were not as Dark and not in need of rebirth."  I can’t help but see a parallel to the pre-Tony V. takeover days (how bad WERE those scores?), something I look forward to discussing with David T. during what I hope will be his deservedly cushy retirement (carpe cerevisi--seize the beer!).

Perhaps the meatiest take of the day, though, goes to the marvelous Barry Smolin, star LAUSD instructor at the Hamilton High Humanities Magnet, whose cover profile in The Los Angeles Times you can find here.

Writes Mr. Smolin:

"While our curriculum is not specifically based on the trivium [as is Washington Latin’s], we cover all the main classical texts. In the Humanities Magnet, our 9th Grade curriculum is a study of the ancient world. We pretty much start with dirt and emanate outward from there: The ancient Middle-East, Africa, Asia, Europe, especially Greece/Rome, theMedieval Church, Islam, the Crusades, up to the early Renaissance. I also dogoofy things like teach "Catcher In The Rye" as a modern retelling of aclassical hero journey. Holden Caulfield as Odysseus, in other words. I like communicating to the students that the reason we study ancient texts isn't because they're old but because they are ever-present, composed of archetypes that have never left our collective unconscious. Our 9th Graders take an Ancient Civ. History course in conjunction with my English class,not a standard part of the LA Unified curriculum (usually Freshmen don't take social studies), and we also make them enroll in a 7th Period class(3:15-4:20pm) called Humanities, a series of 10-week mini-courses in Grammar & Rhetoric, Intro to Philosophy, Geography & Cultural Anthropology, andIntro to Art Appreciation/Sacred Space. We whoop their minds but goooooood."

For parents requiring tumbling ivy and other species of non-native landscaping, we do have some excellent recommendations regarding L.A. private schools, but for that our fee is $200 per hour for a minimum of 42 hours. (Note to self: Insert some appropriate Wikipedia Latin phrase about rendering unto Caesar.)

Hopes this helps, Valerie!  Bottom line, we very much hope that, of your adventures in Los Angeles, your family will eventually be able to eventually say. . .  What is it?  Oh yes--

Veni, vidi, vici.

xxxooo’s,
Magnet Yentas

PS. To keep up with the latest in California charter schools, check out: charterassociation.org

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