The removal of all English 21 classes throughout Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) at the end of Spring semester has left the English department frustrated and searching for a solution.
LACCD Chancellor Francisco C. Rodriguez ordered that all English 21 classes be cancelled and requested that English 28 classes be severely limited.
English Vice Department Chair Jodi Johnson said that the only consultation they received regarding the decision was being informed that the class had already been cancelled.
“To basically be told ‘thou shall not teach this class’, that has not happened before,” Johnson said. “What’s really surprising is that despite the supposed atonomy of each campus and despite the supposed faculty run power structure, it was just right over our heads.”
Instructor of English Larry Krikorian said he didn’t even get a phone call from the chancellor regarding the decision.
“He at least had to make a courtesy phone call to the chair of the English department. No phone call, no anything,” Krikorain said. “There are no 21’s. They’ve all been red-lined and actually that was a contract violation.”
After the cancellation of English 21, the English Department started to offer a new class called English 72.
English Chair Brad Saenz talked about the importance of this class and how it will assist students currently enrolled in English 101.
“English 72 is designed to run alongside English 101 and it’s a one unit course that meets for three hours a week, but the way it’s designed is so it doesn’t have homework, so the class is completely self contained,” Saenz said. “It’s designed to assist students with passing English 101, so if a student chooses, they can enroll in English 72 while they’re taking English 101.”
English 72 is currently the departments solution to the cancellation of English 21. However, Johnson said that the English department is considering other substitutions for English 21.
“We are working to hopefully reinstate 21, but we’re also going to have another class, English 94, which is in the curriculum process and is basically 21 by a different number,” Johnson said. “It’s silly that we have to create a whole new class and give it a whole new number. But the whole idea is that these classes don’t have to be in sequence anymore, so you’re not supposed to require people to take 21, then 28, then 101, but the people who want grammar should be able to come in and take a grammar class.”