Comments for Racism and Discrimination within Public Schools

Comment on My High School by Becca Jeanne

Becca Jeanne — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:12:39 +0000

I’m glad that someone else has had the same experience that I have had in an urban school. I’ve spent the last 3 years (2005-2008) in Berkmar High School (Lilburn, Ga) where I, being white, was a minority. We’re the 2nd most diverse high school in Georgia sporting 3,075 students of whom 36% are African American, 28% are Hispanic and 14% are Asian. 64% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches and our reputation is awful. When I tell people that I go to Berkmar and that I actually love it they all look shocked that I haven’t been raped or stabbed.
I’ll admit that a few years before I got there the school had a problem with racial/gang violence but since we got cameras there have hardly been any fights. Yeah, we have a rent-a-cop that walks around the halls but no one minds it since it’s for our safety.
All we’ve been known for is our athletes as well such as recent Memphis basketball signee Wesley Witherspoon, but recently we were awarded the Inspiration award by The College Board for our affluent honors, gifted, and AP courses in which students of every race are given equal opportunity to enroll. The teachers are unique in that they want everyone to succeed and aren’t bias in who they will spend extra time working on their curriculum with.
I recently transfered to a suburban public school in Boston where our diversity consists of 2 black students bussed in from Dorchester. Not only is the school less than 1/3 the size of my school in Atlanta, only 715 students, but the level of racism that I hear is astounding. Half of the students excuses consist of “What? I’m not a racist! I have a black friend!” The ignorance at which the students refer to minority groups is ridiculous to the point where I’m embarrassed for them!
I think that attending Berkmar was the most beneficial thing that I could have ever done for my high school education. It has shown and taught me so much about other cultures that I wish all students could spend time in such a heterogeneous school.

Comment on Primary Colors: Racism and Discrimination vs. Education by sweetangel16175

sweetangel16175 — Fri, 02 May 2008 02:15:26 +0000

thank you for posting this up…
i like the very last slide! it shows that justine is a very smart person… i hadnt thought of that…

Comment on Northwest Guilford Highschool by Randy Peterman

Randy Peterman — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:31:23 +0000

Why is it that in college we have to take diversity classes, and we didn’t have to take them in Jr High or High School. I think it would be a good idea to educate people about cultural differences as soon as possible. Maybe they are doing that now, I don’t know. Any kind of education seems to help stop racism though. I know that educated folks don’t have even close to as many racist ideas or behaviours as uneducated kids on the street do. I say education is the answer!

Comment on Racial Bias by Tu Nguyen

Tu Nguyen — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 08:41:31 +0000

I find it very disturbance to discriminate against other races base on their skin color, religion, sex, etc. Why? Well, I myself have witnessed multiple cases before. For instance, people tend hate others because of their skin tone, and this is so because of lack of similarities. In addition, treating other people unequally can be a result of their background. I think our society need to more educate on this matter and should work together to treat everyone equally and not to discriminate.