Gonzales 1

Sarah Gonzales
Huerta
English 1T
02 February 2015
Crossroads of Education

Its November 2008 I'm in a room with three concrete walls and a steel door. Im wearing
a double red jumpsuit thinking to myself how did I get here? When did my life crossroad and I
end up on this pathway. I wasnt a bad person I never wanted this lifestyle of a hardcore thug
from East San Jose. I reflect back on my life and how I ended up on the path I did. I was 12
years old in 7th grade going to school in a new city trying to find my place. One day my teacher
told me that I was being called to go into another classroom. I was confused but I figured okay
the teacher is telling me to go so it must be somewhere I have to be. When I got into the
classroom there was a woman smiling as I entered welcoming me. I looked around and there
were only Mexican and Black students in this classroom. The woman began introducing herself
and explain why we were in this classroom. She said we were in here to be educated on how
being gang related can effect your life and the consequences to being in the gang world. I was
confused thinking to myself Why am I her? Ive never been involved in gangs before but
when I look around I see people that look like me so I have to be in the right place right? I had
never been gang affiliated most of the kids involved in the class I just associated with because we
had some classes together not because we were some gang. From 7th grade until my senior year
of high school I was involved in that gang affiliated class and throughout my education I became

Gonzales 1
more and more disconnected from my education because, while I didnt realize it at the time, I
was becoming someone I wasnt trying to rebel against this system trying to knock me down. I
had these authority figures telling me this is who you are Sarah this is what I see, a gang
affiliated East San Jose girl who I dont expect to go further then high school. I became the
perfect stereotype of what they saw of me. Throughout my education I made bad choices
because the authority figures around me didnt expect anymore from me so I figured fine I
choose what I want to do in my life, when I want to go to class, when I want to do my
homework. I got into this mindset that this lifestyle is all I am worth and my life reflected these
choices. Why was was I different then my fellow fellow classmates?
Inequality in the education is something that is an ongoing problem within the education
system. Many students arent given the opportunities they deserve because of their cultural
background and where they come from in their community. There has been an ongoing link
between the struggle of equality in education between Mexican American and African Americans
since the 1930s. In order to make a change in the struggle for equality in the educational system
we must recognize these links and come together to change how the system approaches these
students. Students from these demographics are lacking the necessary tools to be successful in
school. The most important lessons we can learn from the examples of student and community
activism are that the students are being stereotyped against because of their cultural background
by teachers with a fixed mindset on who deserves a higher education. By doing this students are
become disconnected from their education because instead of embracing their cultural
background they are being taught to be ashamed of it. There must be a well in-tuned staff who
embrace their students to find their agency within themselves to be successful in this world.

Gonzales 1
Stereotyping in a classroom setting is an ongoing issue within the education system.
Students from a certain economic background will automatically be categorized with other
students who may also come from that community. Some students will be labeled gang affiliated
simply because they come from an area that may have gang activity. These students are then
grouped together making them feel alienated and judged by their authority figures. In the film
Walkout by Edward James Olmos there is a scene where three students are talking about what
their counselor told them they should pursue doing after senior year. Out of the three only one
was told to pursue college the other two students were told to pursue being a mechanic and
secretary. The counselor didnt even give these other two students the option of college because
he didnt feel they could be successful because of the neighborhood these students grew up in.
Instead of grouping these students together and secluding them from their other classmates they
should be given the same options as other students pursuing college. It is psychologically
damaging to make a student feel alienated and judged based solely on their demographic. These
students must me nurtured and accepted for who they are as individuals.
There is a lack of cultural history that happens while these students are being stereotyped
as poor quality students. Instead of teaching these students about their different cultural
backgrounds and showing them how individuals from their culture changed history the
administration sets a criteria for what they deem acceptable. These students begin to feel
segregated from their cultural history and in doing this there begins to be a disconnect between
these students and their education. In The Mexican American Struggle for Equal Educational
Opportunity by Richard R. Valencia it states Thurgood Marshall and his chief assistants felt that
psychological and sociological testimony would materially aid their cause. More specifically

Gonzales 1
Kluger stated: The NAACPs case would rest on the theory that school segregation itself
contributed heavily to the psychic damage of black children. By segregated students from they
cultural background the education system are causing these students to psychologically detach
from their education because they dont feel any personal connection to the education being
provided to them.
A few solutions for issues discussed are instead of stereotyping these students before they
even enter the classroom the education system instead offers a well in-tuned staff that can help
ensure students success. These teachers will understand the needs of their students and can help
these students grow as individuals. In the film Walkout Sal Castro is a teacher involved in
helping his students organize to protest the unfair treatment in their school system. Castro is
talking to his colleagues about a student named Bobby Verdugo. Castros colleagues are both
saying they dont feel Bobby can make it in a college setting, but Castro disagrees and states
Bobby has a 2.8 GPA. Bobby Verdugo later in life attains his college degree and becomes a
social worker. Sal Castro saw Bobbys potential and he wanted to make sure Bobby had every
option available to him so that he could have a successful future. Castro was a well in-tuned
teacher who believed in his students and in doing that he motivated them to want better for their
future. By having a well in-tuned staff they can help students to find their identity and in doing
that build up their agency to make a difference in their society.
Agency is when a person takes the little power they have to make a change. If a student
develops their agency they will enter society as an individual who has the activism to take a
stance of issues they feel need to be addressed. In Before Brown, There Was Mendez by Maria
Blanco, Blanco states The location of the Minemitsu farm placed the Mendez family within

Gonzales 1
close proximity of the White school in Westminster, but the Mendez childrenSylvia,
Gonzalo, Jr., and Geronimowere denied enrollment and informed they must attend the
Mexican school. Unwilling to go along, the Mendez family and other parents organized protests
and demanded an investigation into, and an end to, the segregation. These families were being
told by these authority figures that their kids couldnt go to their school and instead of accepting
this unfair treatment the parents came together as a group to take their agency within themselves
to make a change through activism. If the educational system teaches these students to have
their own agency these students will learn to utilize their voice to be the next leaders of this
world and can come into this society and shake things up.