Close to Home: A to G standards should be the default in primary school

When I left Cuba to come to the United States on Nov. 6, 1961, I made a promise to my mother and father that I would go to college. I went to a very small high school in Texas, and there was only one curriculum.

Had I had the choice of curriculum, I would have probably chosen the path of least resistance - three years instead of four years of math, etc. - and would not have gone to college.

I believe that the default curriculum in all of our schools should be the A to G curriculum. That is the curriculum that, if you follow, you can go directly to a California State University or University of California.

“A to G” refers to the CSU and UC system’s labels of subjects like history, English, mathematics, laboratory science, language (other than English), visual or performing arts and college-preparatory electives. Schools in the two systems, including Sonoma State University, require completion of this curriculum for enrollment.

Many schools are adopting this curriculum, but it needs to be more than just an option for students-it needs to be the only option.

The decision to go to college is not a decision that is made in the 12th grade. It is a family decision that is made extremely early in life, in second or third grade.

The best predictor of success in college is not how your ACT scores are or your grade point average. Those are important, but the best predictor of success in college is if you have a close relative who has gone to college and succeeded.

It is very important to create that tradition in our students, for them to know that their success will have an enormous impact upon their brothers, sisters and future generations.

There is greater participation right now, not only local but statewide, among Hispanics in college.

As I mentioned in a speech at Los Cien’s State of the Latino Community conference in Santa Rosa on Oct. 2, right now at Sonoma State, 27 percent of our entering class is Latino. In 2004, that number was 12 percent.

One of the reasons for this increase is the Compact for Success program with Elsie Allen and Roseland University Prep high schools. It is a contract between parents, students, their school and Sonoma State University that says ‘If you do the following things, we guarantee you admission to Sonoma State, no questions asked.’ We have 15 applications for every available seat.

Unlike many other campuses, we really are a statewide campus. We attract 80 percent of our students at the entry level from outside the local area. Our transferring class comes mostly from local community colleges, and predominantly from Santa Rosa Junior College. We give preference to students from our local communities.

There are many students who don’t want to go to college, and the A to G curriculum is equally satisfactory and useful for non-college preparation. Long Beach Unified School District and San Jose, for example, have proven the pathway to be successful.

I would argue strongly that every school district in this county-and throughout the state and the country - ought to adopt the A to G curriculum as their default curriculum.

Ruben Armiñana is president of Sonoma State University.