Monday, December 6, 2010

How was school for you?

In today’s world such a high value is placed upon the idea of school and receiving a good education. Looking back on my schooling career, its interesting to see how the environment I was around as an adolescent has created the beliefs and the individual I see before myself today. Over my lifespan I have attended schools in three uniquely different places; the public schools of Pine Bluff, AR (1st till 8th grade), a private school in Greenville MS (8th till 11th grade), and another public school in Hot Springs, AR (11th and 12th grade).

Beginning with the public schools of Pine Bluff, I was a young Pakistani immigrant completely unaware of social ideas encompassed with a public school. As I began to learn the culture of America, I began to see the difference between the countries I had lived in before and this brand new world but I remained totally clueless of many issues that my classmates had been taught. It was not until Black History Month that I first became aware the true difference between an African American friend and a White friend. The concept of a month dedicated specifically to one race truly puzzled me. As the years went on and I progressed within the public school district of Pine Bluff, I could see a separation forming between my black friends and white friends. By the 4th grade, I could remember that only a handful of white students even went to my school and all of my own white friends had moved to surrounding city’s private schools. I always wondered why they had moved away. Were they not getting the same good education I was getting? Where they not in a good educational environment? As school further segregated me from my white friends and drew me closer to my African American friends, I inherently began to like the same things they enjoyed. With a new taste for loud rap music and baggy clothes, I never considered the idea that I like these things because my black friends do, it was simply because those things appealed to me as well.

After 7th grade, my parent’s work forced us to move to another small southern town, Greenville, Mississippi. When I moved here my parents were quite satisfied with the public education system of Pine Bluff as it served my older sister quite well, and I was in her following footsteps. I assumed I would continue my public education career, until my mother returned home one day saying that a better education could be gotten at a private school closer to my house. With hopes of continuing an enjoyable yet productive time at a “better” school, I was in open arms to private Washington School. Little did I know that this would be the one of the unhappiest times of my schooling career. From the first moment I stepped inside the school, I noticed I did not fit in very well or feel very welcomed to say the least. I walked in wearing my baggy jeans and oversized hoody and sat down as 20 white awkward faces stared me down. As the first few days went on, hardly anyone gave me a friendly welcome as I tried to integrate into their society. I was in complete culture shock in this new school, as it did not seem to fit in well at all with an all white crowd. It was strange to notice how a majority of the white students did not immediately show any friendly actions towards me, as they would later consider me to be a very good friend.

It was strange to say that until I went to Washington School, it was never made apparent to me that I was a person of color. Sure I knew I had brown skin and my friends had darker or lighter skin, but this was the first time that I had been treated completely different simply because the color of my skin and the “black” associated things I liked. Sick of this feeling, I applied to the Arkansas School for Mathematics Sciences and the Arts in Hot Springs, Arkansas. This school is dedicated strictly for the advancement of Arkansas students in the fields of Math and Science. Considered one of the best schools in the state, I decided to attend and escape the culturally bias Washington School. At ASMSA I would go onto see that intelligence was not a result of the color of ones skin but the will to learn. Students at this school ranged from the “hoods” of Pine Bluff all the way to the pristine private schools of Little Rock. Races ranged from black, white, and many internationals, but the focus and the overall attitude of the students was completely accepting. My peers were not only receptive towards different races but also towards individuals with different sexual preferences. It seemed that this publically funded school created a mosaic of students united under one goal of a good education.

Looking back each of the schools has helped me form the person I am today. I continue to be proud of the fact that I can relate and have plenty of African American, White, and friends of other races. With that being said, how do you feel about the schools you have attended? Do you think the fact that they were private or public had something to do with the way you may have grown up?

8 comments:

  1. Having also attended public schools in Arkansas for most of my life I can also attest that there is a vast difference in the attitudes at work within the public schools and private schools in terms of diversity. Granted your experience in private schools was not specifically in Arkansas, I can assume from your narrative that Washington is very similar to private schools in Arkansas. Public schools have a much more diverse student body. Private schools in my home town can almost be considered "all-white" schools. It's sad to see this segregation still present in today's society. I feel that public school was a necessary stage in my social development as a person that can see past the color of ones skin. I fear those students attending private schools may never learn to do so.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have to completely agree with you about the ability of everyone to learn on the same level if they have the will to do so. My school experiences were almost the same as yours. I went to a private elementary school and it was never brought to anyone's attention or into question, the fact that there were various students of different races at the school. Everyone seemed to get along just fine and we understood that each classmate was unique. We made it fun. However, when I went to middle and high school at Craigmont, which are public schools that are predominantly African American, everything changed. There was little to no diversity. In my graduating class, there were probably about 3 white students and 2 Asians and 2 Pakistani students. It kind of made me realize the immense difference between a quality education in a diverse environment and a lackluster education in an environment in which teachers had little to no belief in the students in their classrooms. They had low expectations for us because most of the students there were, needless to say, either poor or under-achievers. Also, because of the lack of diversity in my high school, a lot of the African American students never became open to new ideas or cultural points of view and still do not care to.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I went through that situation when I was in Middle School. I went to a school in the inner city of Baltimore and there was one white guy, that I remember, in my school. Then, I moved here and there was a diversity in my middle school and in high school, there was a huge mix. In Baltimore, the schools were disgusting, old, and most teachers saw us as failures from the beginning. Here, I went to a school full of promise and teachers thought highly of you.I

    ReplyDelete
  4. I went to the same private school in Midland, Texas from first grade until I graduated from it this past May, and it definitely had an impact on the way that I grew up. Midland, Texas is a town of about 100,000 people way out in West Texas probably about three or four hours from the border with Mexico so there is a significant Hispanic population there. However in all my years of school there I only knew about ten Hispanic students that attended my school while the public schools were about half white and half Hispanic. Simply because I went to this school I do not know many Hispanics simply because I did not see them everyday in my basically all white school.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I went to a public elementary and middle school but considering that my hometown of Sandwich, Massachusetts is about 98% white, there was little to no diversity. There were a couple of black kids in the grade below me, I think, and they definitely stood out because of their skin color. In high school I went to a charter school in the town next to Sandwich and while there was more diversity, it wasn't exactly substantial. I think because the area I live in is so predominately white that people of other races must feel a little out of place. One of my best friends is black and a freshman at Brown University and she was really excited that there are actually other black people there to hang out with.

    ReplyDelete
  7. My experience was also similar. I went to a majority black middle school (it was an optional program) where there was one white student and private high school where I was one of five black students but I was not the only minority. Students from several different countries would transfer to my school. I underwent a major culture shock when I began to become involved in sports because my team was majority white and I was often the only black girl on the team, and the shock really sank in high school because I was exposed to them each day. I also thing that it’s a personality factor that goes into that too, because even thought I have been around whites since the 5th grade, from sports and high school, I still have not adjusted to being around them because my reality is so different from their and there is no bridge between them and myself. I really am grateful to have gone to private school because no one in my family ever has, but I still felt distant in that environment and even at Rhodes, except at Rhodes I can hide that more because my class size is not 46 and I am not alone. I felt distant because many things in high school that my friends could do, I could not because my mother was struggling simply to pay for tuition; something that came easy for their families and many things that they did was out of the question for my mother. I also came from a sheltered environment and outside of school and sports; I was not exposed to much of the outside world so I grew to just be on my own and became comfortable in that space and never adjusted. I also think that since our cultures are rarely exposed to other cultures that we do not see and accept change very easily and find it more comfortable to be in our own environments. That goes for both races. Most students at Rhodes are used to being around their own and just don’t know how to or care to adjust or how to act. Myself personally, I really never learned how to engage myself with other races because throughout high school I wanted to feel like I belonged somewhere with people like me and in college I took that concept and ran with it because I did not want to be in that type of environment. I do believe that we should really learn to diversify ourselves because in the real world, we’re not dealing with ourselves but an immense amount of other cultures.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I attended Central High School here in Memphis and I found the students there quite open and accepting despite the fact that I was white and roughly 90% of the student body was black. While there was a high degree of acceptance, however, it was unmistakable that I was primarily hanging out with a small enclave of close white friends while my aquaintances with black students was marginal and secondary. I feel that even though integration was a big step for America, the fact of segregation is still very much with us. Rhodes is like 90% white, as are many other private liberal arts institutions. One questions whether the goal of integration is attainable. If it is, how long will it take? Regardless, I feel that the education I recieved was top-notch and the experiences of segregation in a context of integration, while not ideal, informative.

    ReplyDelete