When I was growing up all through elementary school I was in a mainly white-middle class community. Through my nine years in a public elementary school I saw maybe three Hispanic or African American children. Once I was a freshman in high school I had moved to Florida in again a middle, upper class neighborhood, but there was a lot more diversity in my high school than before. My schools population consisted evenly between white, African Americans, and Hispanics. It was a little bit of a culture shock for me because I had barely ever conversed with someone from a different ethnic background or race than myself, let alone become friends with them.
Through my five years in Florida I became friends with people from very different backgrounds than myself and learned so much about different cultures and traditions they took part in. Going to high school in a diverse setting definitely broadened my horizons if you will. I am glad that I can go into my VIP's tutoring classroom and have a more understanding about the backgrounds these children come from and be more comfortable working with them.
I did not have a lot of cultural bias in my life before this experience but the friends I hung around with in high school would make racial slurs and make assumptions about different ethnicity and races that were different than themselves. This service learning experience helped me block out stereotyping and appreciate each child's differences.
I believe my personal history and my new experience in this elementary school backs up the claim Jonathan Kozol made in his article Still Separate, Still Unequal. The schools in the United States are most definitely being segregated again not like they were in the past but more by socioeconomic class and economic backgrounds. I barely see any white children at Green Path elementary school, the population is mainly African American and Hispanic children. Kozol did more qualitative research to back up his statements about U.S. schools and he looked for patterns as he interviewed children in our schools. His major argument in his article was that segregation and inequality in our schools have to transform and de-marginalize society. I saw exactly what Kozol was talking about in my recent service learning experience and also when I look back on my school days.
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Hi Holly,
ReplyDeleteI also had not been in any school that had a significant amount of diversity. I actually had no diversity in any of the the schools i went to, except for in college. I also had friend who had made assumptions about people who were different in race and sexual orientation. I never agreed with their assessments but I also never realized how bad the problem was in schools. I started to realized these problems in college and now understand why they exist. Like you I started to be exposed to diversity in my school but most of the kids were not white. This shows diversity for me but not for the students in this region. I had no white students in my class they were all African American and Hispanic. The school had a very small percentage of the students who were white. I agree with you when use compare your experience with Kozols conclusions about schools in America. I think Kozol is correct in his findings because i saw how a school mostly of nonwhite students had a significant disadvantage in good resources and teachers. All of the schools i had went to had a great amount of financial and academic support. As a result, I agree with Kozol's article when he says schools are becoming more segregated, based on race, from state and federal resources for schools. It seems society and this country has not evolved much since the 60's.