Kassandra Medrano

2/1/15 English 1T
Knowledge Brings Equality
Coming to America, immigrants often think that once they reach America all the things
they hoped for will be given to them. A common misconception is about education in the states,
that it is this amazing and perfect system. Once they reach this place their kids will grow in ways
that they couldnt have in their home countries, so they sacrifice everything. Many of the times
the parents dont realize how their children are getting the short end of the stick. There is a large
inequality within Americas education system, and this mainly effect people of color. Facts have
show that people in low income areas do not get the same benefits as those in better areas. Few
people in the U.S. actually know the severity in our education system, but this problem has been
present for many years now.
After years and year, this problem still rears its ugly head. Many know about the
segregation between the blacks and whites, but plenty do not know about what occurred with the
Latinos of these times. Latinos were also segregated, and were initially the first to bring
awareness to the wrong being done to them. In 1946 the first case that is not very well known is,
the Mendez v. Westminster case. The Mendez case referred to Mexican children going to schools
that were not near them due to their ethnicity and mainly the color of their skin. They were the
first to argue that these children were made to feel less then, and made the people question their
humanity. The segregation would then end eight years later due to Brown v. Board, which used
the Mendez case as a basis for their case. This to many ended to racial problems in the education
system. It surely did not, in the 1960s and 70s Latinos mainly felt the full grunt of this injustice.
They were treated to be less than, punished for speaking their natural tongue, and subjected to

harsh punishments. Parents of these children did not understand. They believed their children
should appreciate an education because its free. But the education that they were receiving was
not what they deserved, history was repeating itself. The brave students of this time were tired,
tired of being wronged due to the color of their skin and their families income. So they took a
stand and literally walkout. We have learned that if from a young age students are made aware
of the significance of education that can get them towards a path of success. But also what
prevents students from being aware of this inequality is the lack of a growth mindset, students
seeking personal success rather than success as a community, also having a qualified staff. This
all turns back to the achievement gap.
It is known that when one is young nothing is taken too seriously. Things that should be
taken serious are brushed off or even laughed at. When the young are told you have to go to
school so you can get a good job it not only creates a negative mindset but a misconception of
education. What would fix this is if students were taught from a young age that the benefits and
outcomes of school are not solely to help acquire their potential jobs. But to make them stronger
individuals, feed rather than starve their knowledge. This point that I make turns directly into
student advocacy. Let them be aware and be able to make a change within their own lives and
educational careers. Who can better cater to their needs better than themselves, in a film called
Walkout written by Edward James Olmos, there is a character in the film Sal Castro, he
mentions, Youre learning your history from people that dont know your history. This quote
not only reflects the history of fore fathers but what I am referring to is a persons history. For
example a child knows that they struggle in a subject and a test is coming up. Because they have
this knowledge, self awareness, they know that they need to be constantly studying. The student
will then know how to get from point a to point b, sometimes the teacher does not have the time

or even care to know what makes the student tick. A student with this in her arsenal can be lead
to a path of self success.
Children naturally are very naive, and because of this they are very easy to shape and
mold. As stated in previous paragraph, mindsets have a huge affect on how a student perceives
learning. I believe that students and people in general need to have a growth mindset to be able
to close up the gap. A student cannot begin to grown if they are prohibited and are made to feel
less than. Richard R. Valencia, professor at the University of Texas at Austin states many key
points in his article, The Mexican American Struggle for Equal Educational Opportunity. He
quotes the transcript of a case referring to educational injustice, Segregation, by its very nature,
is a reminder constantly of inferiority, of not being wanted, of not being a part of the community.
Such an experience cannot possibly build the best personality or sort of person who is at home in
the world, and able to contribute and live well.(Valencia. 57) In this quote segregation now
days comes in different forms but it is also still the segregation of race. With a constant reminder
of not being ideal a student creates this mindset they will never be good enough which leads to
them eventually giving up all together. By having hope in themselves students can be anything
they want to and not feel like they need to give up, and assist and encourage to decrease size of
the achievement gap.
The sad truth about American culture is that most of the population is very self centered.
If need be a person would not think twice than to throw another person under a bus to gain the
upper hand or a better title. In order to get rid of this problem, we must make school more social
and a community verses it being a bunch of separate islands. How is success supposed to be
achieved without communication and assistance? There is a saying that states it takes a village

to raise a child I think that this goes back to education that it takes a community to create a well
rounded student.
In order to help the people you must know the people. Having a qualified staff is crucial
in the educational realm. To have a staff that does not know how or want to help the students in a
particular position can be very harmful to a student. This is a very obvious fact, the students that
made demands to the board of education even knew they wanted teacher to be in the area that
they taught in New teachers should be required to live in the community where they teach
during their probationary period. (McCurdy) this relation would make the staff in tune with the
constant life his/her student live everyday and makes it easier to relate to the students. Also
having a staff that is qualified rather than certified, this means that they know how to help and
see the students grow. This is very difficult to find, but is possible.
Although there are many ways to close this gap, there are two major things that need to
be present. Which are agency and activism. They go hand in hand, but both create a strong
movement. Agency calls for the participants to realize the wrong doing and makes the want to do
something about the wrong that is going on. Activism is the product is the acts that occur after
the realization that help the movement gain ground and actually make a difference. It is one thing
to talk about fixing something and how unjust something is but another to talk and actually do
something about the problem. In the movie walkout the teacher had a large sense of agency that
he bestowed upon his students, without Mr. Castro the students would have never known the
things that were going on were wrong. This proves that knowledge is power. The students could
have just left the problem be. But to know that this is happening to you makes a person feel
degraded and taken advantage of. Coming from land of the free and the home of the brave we
are of course going to stand up for what we believe in.

It is strange for me to think that there are plenty of people that dont know the truth. I
honestly was in that place of complacency before entering this class. It is really disturbing to me
that our government pays more to house inmates rather than pay more to educate students. It is a
faulty plan. That was created is a much simpler time. Things have changed and changes need
to be made in order to accommodate the new way of things. We need to grab this beast by the
horns before this spreads like rapid fire and this cycle repeats another time. In order to do so we
must educate and prepare students for the significance of education. Another big factor is the
staff, having teachers that are qualified. This movement has been in works for a very long time.
It will be this way until more people become knowledgeable. Once they gain knowledge then we
are well on our way to equality.