Owen J. California

Racism in the School System

Racism in schools will cause us to go backwards in history.

People thought that racism in the school system ended. However, this is not the case. In most schools, there is a race that is of a large majority compared to the rest of the school. This discrimination leads to racial hate and a promotion of it. 

Throughout my life I have observed that most white people tend to go to private schools and most people of color go to public schools. For example, the school I go to now has a large majority of people of Hispanic origin. In addition to this, the middle school I went to also had a large majority of Hispanics, and very few people of other races. On the contrary, when I look at a number of private schools, I see a large majority of white people, and fewer people of color. Although "white flight" may be a reason for this, I believe that it originates simply from the cost of these schools. Private schools are expensive, and because of segregation in the past, white people tend to have more money than people of color, leading to more people of color going to public school, which is free. The discrimination may also be subconscious. People may be separating their children from people of other races without even knowing it. Whatever the reason may be, it leads to discrimination in schools.

This discrimination leads to a racist train of thought in people from these schools. Hanging around the same race will lead to other races becoming a sort of unknown. Thinking of them as unknown is a degrading mindset that makes people seen as less than human, which is going backwards in history. People will end up thinking like they did a century ago, believing one human is worse than another simply because of their skin color.

John Henry Francis Polytechnic High School

Honors English 10 B / Period 3

Sophomore English class in the magnet program of John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley, California.

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