Both Sides Now

Inside

IT’S CUSTOMARY in this space for us to look forward to another issue of San Diego Magazine——to tell readers why we think they’ll find something of value among the pages of the current magazine. We’ll get to that. But first, it might be valuable to take a look back.

Among many other features in our October issue——the largest San Diego Magazine ever——were listings of the top doctors of our region, a guide to finding a women’s physician, an in-depth look at the “Uncivil War at City Hall” and a first-person account of s.d. liddick’s sobering stint as a substitute teacher at Crawford High School. Liddick, who’s a regular investigative reporter for this magazine, pulled no punches as he chronicled instances of classroom disruption, intraracial disharmony (African-Americans clashing with African immigrants from Somalia), student insubordination (including unfettered use of obscene language when addressing teachers) and faculty despair over their own lack of control at the inner-city school.

Reporters and editors are supposed to be a hardened bunch, but even we were shocked by some of the scenes played out in the story. We were also prepared for letters to the editor——and we got them. Most criticized us for not telling the success stories of Crawford. Others called us biased. Some called us racist.

Now then, are there good students at Crawford? Certainly. Are there dedicated teachers? Absolutely. Do the media have an obligation to write about them? Surely. And we have.

In recent years, in two different three-part series, we’ve looked at education in San Diego and race relations in San Diego. In scores of stories, we’ve pointed to dozens of successes on both fronts. Indeed, in 2001, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Jonathan Freedman wrote a thought-provoking piece for this magazine that painted a promising portrait of the cultural diversity of the students at Crawford and the dedication of the teachers who devote their best efforts to educating them. But now, it was time to take a focused look at a serious problem in our inner-city schools——a problem even Carl Cohn, the out-going African-American superintendent of San Diego’s schools, acknowledges is grimmer than the city’s cognoscenti would like to admit.

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Click to read past articles:

The Learning Curve, Part I, Part II, Part III

Diversity and Division, Part I, Part II, Part III

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How many more success stories could a Crawford High School point to if students acted in harmony? If all teachers were optimistic? If all of us acknowledged problems do exist? The goal is education——and the goal will never be achieved when the students cited in our story are as quick to accept an F as they are to use the F-word with teachers who want to teach them.

A footnote: It’s San Diego Magazine’s policy to edit the letters we receive for grammar, spelling and usage. Among the letters to the editor this month were several from students and young alumni of Crawford. Every one required extensive editing for clarity. Leaving them unedited might have proved a point: A solid education can’t be achieved in an atmosphere of futility——for students or teachers.

NOW, WHAT HAVE WE DONE FOR YOU this month? Our intrepid associate editor, Julia Beeson, gives you an A-to-Z manifesto designed to entice you to shop till you drop. Contributing writer Bob Rowland paints a stark picture of childhood interrupted, with his incisive look at San Diego’s foster-care system. In Dialogue, Rudy Johnson, president and CEO of Neighborhood House, talks about the controversies swirling around the local Head Start program and the San Diego Food Bank. Maya Kroth presents an insider’s guide to San Diego’s eclectic music scene. And we raise the curtain with a photo essay on the $26.5 million reincarnation of the Balboa Theatre.

Oh, and in his monthly Journal, Ron Donoho tells you what he has in common with legendary San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana. (Hint: It’s not a Super Bowl ring.)

TOM BLAIR
Editor in Chief

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