'Private vs. Public' the Difficulty of a POC

*No names, schools, or locations will be mentioned but I will say that all information is about the United States only. *

School is one of the many places that defines our character during our childhood, but can also cause a lot of trauma for ourselves as we navigate childhood towards adulthood as well. One thing for sure and certain however, it's always been more difficult for a person of color, or POC for short. For me personally, it showed me how society really, truly views me. I learned both in public and private, that it is all about survival. For people of color in general, it's survival every day, but within the education system, it's on a whole different level. Plus at times, most of the time, situations tend to become stereotypical.

African Americans are 'supposed' to be the jocks, athletes, drill, and cheer groups, but, Africans are 'supposed' to be smart and strive to be doctors and good at running. However they 'can't' be smarter than their Asian peers because they're 'supposed' to be at the top of their class at all times. Then there's your Middle Easterns that are 'supposed' to be in competition with Asian people to be at the top of their classes academically. There's also our Hispanics and Native brothers and sisters that are trying to make it without hearing slurs, along with the rest of us.

I bring up these stereotypes because these were the type of sayings all I heard growing up, 'this is how other cultures 'should' be, this is how other cultures 'should' act.' Statistically, according to the Nations Report Card, in 2015 40% of 4th Grade and 33% of 8th Grade students performed around the proficient level in NAEP(National Assessment of Educational Progress) mathematics. Diving further into the percentage, within that 4th grade stats, there's 19% of the population that were African American students and 65% that were Asian students. For our 8th Grade stats, 13% African American students and 61% were Asian students. Now lets look at stats from 2022, the main groups that took a significant dip in scores were the ethic groups of American India/Alaska Natives, African Americans, and Hispanics. More within private Catholic schools versus public. And why is that you ask? Because there aren't the same resources available. For most public schools, it's advertised that the schools are curriculum focuses on helping students succeed not only in the education system but also in life. Providing extra help from teachers, versus having study groups that may be hard to find within private schools, or feeling unwelcome within them. Some students that I've taken the time to speak with as well as family members who are both in public and private, were able to give me personal insight. Both groups made it clear to me that it's more of a scuffle now within both types of schools for POCs and I believe them.

Bringing in a more personal side, I also spoke with family members still in school and some that have little ones in school. Most of my young adults and early adults I have in school within my family, express in a since some of the same stereotypes as I've heard of growing up. A family member who's an athletic African American and White mixed, expressed that people only see him as that, an athlete. He was the top of his class and also an activist on his free time but yet, he was only seen as an athlete. Another member, African American, Russian and Polynesian, was bullied and put down because she wanted to push herself and take the college classes. Then when taking those courses, was told 'you don't belong here.' I've even had parents of little ones expressed they had to go harder for their children in public versus private. One even said that since their child didn't understand the test, they automatically put them in a special-education class. Which is not how you dictate that. As an educator, I've learned that it does dictate through tests, observations, and also doctors' notes that help with knowing where to place a child but everyone is placed in a general education classroom until it is all figured out.

For myself, I did most of my education in public school, but, briefly, during my years of 7th grade to my freshman year of high-school, then I went back to public school. Honestly, public school was better to me and for me. With private, I was looked at as if I was a charity case and everyone (none POC) would ask if I was there on a scholarship or grant in order to go there, which I wasn't. With public however, it was more of a more difficult competition between people who were also POCs. Only difference between the two types of schools was the staff and the opportunities. With public school, I was offered to join academic clubs, study groups, and told to learn more about other extended education opportunities to help me with being prepared for college. With private school, it was constantly "make sure you can keep up", "are you sure you get it", "maybe you need to redo this course". Which to me was a target towards my intelligence instead of wanting to help me succeed. It hurt a lot, but all it did was motivate me to become the woman I am today. It took some time absolutely but, it helped with wanting to continue my future instead of breaking under the pressure.

Children and young adults already have to struggle to navigate growing up and dealing with other students who might not always be nice in the world, but yet get through it every day. They should be able to have adults they can trust in the schools in order to help them succeed, not add onto being teared down in the process of life. Show up for your kiddos today. Show up for the future.