The Unfortunate Truth of our Schools & Communities

I attended elementary and middle school in Ravenswood District in the notorious town of East Palo Alto, California. Throughout my schooling in East Palo Alto, the educational, social, and classroom environment conditions were extremely poor and unequipped for proper schooling. I remember specifically that in 4^th grade, there were approximately 40 students in my classroom, and only 6 textbooks per classroom. Thus, about groups of 6-7 students would share a textbook during class. The ratio of resource per student was heavily unbalanced, which also included teachers and staff. Furthermore, most of the teachers in my upbringing were only at my respective schools for a year or two. Evidently, teachers were constantly in and out of the Ravenswood District, and as a result, our systems of support were not consistent in school. The reason as to why teachers did not stay for prolonged periods of time was often due to satisfying temporary teaching credentials. Prolonged periods of teachings at the Ravenswood school districts were rare. Activities that often circulated school grounds during middle school included physical and oral fights, a lack of connection between staff and students, and the implementation of unsuccessful programs. The community of East Palo Alto only offered a few elementary schools, along with 4 middle schools, and no high schools that were public. The citizens residing in the community often joked about how blessed the town was to not have a high school since many of the adolescences were involved in gangs, drug activity, and violence. The demographic breakdown of East Palo Alto, based on the 2010 U.S. Census, included 62.3% Latino/Hispanic, 17% African American, 9.2% Islander, etc. The ironic situation about the community of East Palo Alto was that it was adjacent to cities of Palo Alto and Stanford, two communities that are the richest in the Bay Area. The communities and their corresponding cultures were completely different, and the lives that were established because of these differences were quite unfortunate. While Palo Alto thrived with their school districts, the schools in East Palo Alto were claimed to be the worst in California.

Because East Palo Alto was a low-income community inhibited by minority families, in which drugs and street violence circulated the city, the schools, as a result, were classified as bad and were not able to give all the children equal opportunities for a successful education. As demonstrated through my upbringing and through "Race and Racisms: A Critical Approach", schools are often used as an institution that practices discrimination and racism towards minorities; meanwhile, children who are white experience and benefit from White privilege at these same institutions. Ultimately, minorities face large barriers when attempting to reach any level of success in their lifetime in society due to the fact that institutions are embedded with racism and discrimination, which prevents minority groups from advancing in society; allowing racism to persist even though there is not any blatant policies or laws that explicit depict and perpetuate discrimination and racist views.