Community Track
There are still so many social problems that relate to discrimination and unfairness in the world. Unfortunately, we still can see racism problems in various places in our daily lives. The problems between white cops and black people gather attention these days. I think it is very important to talk about such problems now because the topic is very timely. However, I learned another important problem that relates to racism and discrimination in a class, so I want to focus on that problem for this time.
I learned that there are unfairness and discrimination in Universities or educations. There is less violent discrimination than general images of it, but black people or some weak people are differently damaged by discrimination. Such unfairness and discrimination have damaged people, but they remain unanswered. Michell Obama experienced unfairness and kind of discrimination at Princeton University. The majority of students at the university were white, so she was in the minority group. Therefore, she needed to try to fit into the majority group. According to Michell Obama, “But even today, white students continuing to outnumber students of color on college campuses, the burden of assimilation is put largely on the shoulders of minority students. In my experiences, it’s a lot to ask” (BECOMING, 74). I am in the American University, so I know how the American university students are busy with their study and assignments. All students in the university should be in a fair environment to do their best. However, Michell Obama needed to spend extra effort. Michell Obama also states “This is doable, of course-minority and underprivileged students rise to the challenge all the time-but it takes energy. It takes energy to be the only black person in a lecture hall or one of a few nonwhite people trying out for a play or joining an intramural team” (75). It is absolutely unfair. There are other discrimination problems in her book, but I pointed out this problem because there is no immediate negative effect or violence on the problem. At first glance, the problem seems unserious, but it harms students little by little, and finally, big differences might be created between students by such unfairness. Therefore, noticing this problem is hard, but it is very important to notice. I also point out that it is very difficult to solve this problem. It is not a simple way, but it is easier to solve discrimination problems if the discrimination unilaterally comes from the perpetrator. However, minority people feel their weakness by themselves too, so we need to solve two sides, perpetrator and victim, at the same time. It makes it difficult to solve the problems. That is why helps from lots of people is necessary. The power of numbers is huge, so the problems between majority and minority happen in education, but I think we can use the power to solve problems if we can use it correctly.
Similar unfairness situations happened in South Bronx in 1973. The situation has been continued so long time. South Bronx case is worse than Michell Obama's case. Minority people and suffering people are pushed to the South Bronx. Therefore, unfortunately, the whole townspeople are out of the majority of society. There are also so many problems in the South Bronx, but I want to point out education problems again. I keep saying that education should be fairly given to people especially for children because learning the basics is the most important element. However, Martin Tolchin who is the writer of Rage Permeates All Facets of Life in the South Bronx says, in the South Bronx, “I. S. 155 has not done well on the latest reading scores. Only 11.6 percent of the students were found to be reading at grade level—a decline from the previous year's 14.2 percent. ‘The kids have already been beaten by the time they get here,’Mr. Black explains. ‘Kids come to the sixth grade and can't read’” (1). I was very surprised when I first read this article because sixth grades children cannot read, but actually, they do not do anything wrong. They are just living in the South Bronx. Such an environment should not exist. Also, Martin argues that “The critical question,” says Sidney Samuelson, P.S. 27's principal, “is, can the school overcome the social pathology?” Half the students are from broken homes, he notes, and 70 percent are from families on welfare” (1). Children suffering even just living not only studying. I think this is a very serious problem. To get out of poor life, it is necessary to study to get better jobs. However, education for them is not enough, so they might fall into a vicious circle. It is very hard to improve the situation if it falls into a vicious circle. I think we need to do something as soon as possible.
Have you ever paid attention to unfairness or discrimination in education? Can you believe that some children cannot read because just they are growing up in a particular place? I think it is hard for wealthy people to even imagine the situation. We should reaffirm the importance of a blessed environment for them. I think we are not ready to solve unfairness problems in education because most people who are wealthy do not notice the seriousness of the problem. People who are in trouble have their hands full with surviving, so people who are not in trouble need to help them out. However, it is hard to notice the importance of solving problems for wealthy people because they are not suffering. Therefore, the first action that we can do is catching messages from suffering people. Then, you tell another person the messages when you catch the messages. I think this is the way that we can take to solve unfairness problems in education.
(969 words)
Work cited
Obama, Michelle. Becoming, The Crown Publishing Group, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/templeuniv-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6071094.
Tolchin, Martin. "Rage Permeates All Facets of Life in the South Bronx". The New York Times, January 17, 1973, Page 1, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/17/archives/rage-permeates-all-facets-of-life-in-the-south-bronx-rage-permeates.html