Cruz Arreola 1

Jovany Cruz Arreola

Professor Cynthia Hamlet
English 1B 12:30pm
12 October 2015
Discrimination: Americas Schools
"Every child in America deserves a world-class education (Obama in Brisport 17). This
is the basis of the way schools should educate and prepare students for their futures. It follows
the American ideal of how everyone should be treated equally, and how everyone has the same
chance to make it in life. Unfortunately, this is not always the case since some students suffer
from discrimination. Discrimination by definition is the favoring of one group over the other. But
in school, it can take many forms. All discrimination can come all the way from the government
level, to the systems implemented in school and to the way students interact with each other. The
government unequally funds schools, schools unequally separate students and students unequally
treat their peers. Discrimination is still present at Americas schools, and it is unfair to its
students. Unfair in the sense that the American dream is that of equality, opportunity and success.
The first form of unfair discrimination that children experience in school, comes in the
way of bullying. Bullying is a kind of behavior that goes against the ideals of the United States,
since everyone is equal and should be treated with respect. Bullying can be done and experienced
in a variety of ways, These include physical, verbal, and relational/social bullying, which can
take place in direct and/or indirect forms (Kupferman 96). Direct bullying is the more obvious
and often physical form of abuse towards another student, while indirect bullying is the social
segregation practiced by students. The physical aspect can come in various ways, but all are just
as bad. Basically, a kid who feels stronger, will most often than not hit another kid, because he

Cruz Arreola 2
thinks it is funny or because he can get something out of doing so. There are also many ways to
verbally discriminate someone. One way is making fun of someones name, My brother Farshid
became Fartshit (Dumas 351). In this case Dumas cousin suffered from other kids making fun
of his name, and this is a type of discrimination most often than not happens only to immigrant
students like Dumas and her family. The problem with this type of bullying or discrimination is
that kids do not understand why they are being treated that way. Her brother Arash initially
couldnt understand why every time hed say his name, people would laugh and ask him if it
itched (Dumas 351). The issue here is that for kids this might only be a joke, but it undoubtedly
harms the kid or kids on the receiving end. Other types of verbal abuse include the teasing or use
of offensive and racist words, towards students that are considered to be worth less by their
peers. Kids often base this type of bullying in the way another student looks or acts. The
relational or social bullying is something a little more complicated, because it includes the
separation of students in different groups, but the actual bullying happens when these groups
exclude or do not accept people into their groups. Another form of bullying that has been more
prevalent in recent years is cyber-bullying, As other types of bullying, this [Cyber-bullying]
entails aggression with intent to cause harm via various media forms (Kupferman 96). This type
of bullying can be considered an indirect form of bullying, it is indirect because it usually is
practiced through an anonymous medium. It includes saying mean things or spreading false
rumors through the web in order to harm a persons image. As explained by Kupferman this type
of bullying is practiced via various media forms (96), which can be Facebook, twitter, email, etc.
The problem here is the anonymity that these social sites offers to the bullies, because there is no
real consequence to their acts. The other source of bullying in school comes from the teachers
themselves, while some might step up and stop the act of bullying, many simply ignore it, and

Cruz Arreola 3
sadly others participate in it, This is the finding in a survey which noted that 26% of school
teachers reported that they observed other teachers making fun of the way students looked, acted,
or talked (Kupferman 101). While these teachers do not participate in conjunction with other
students in the act of bullying, they represent a problem in the way Americas schools work,
because they are the ones that are supposed to teach children that everyone is the same, and as
so, should be treated with respect. While discrimination comes in many forms, it is all unfair to
the people that suffer from it, because they are not being treated as equals.
Discrimination in the form of bullying has negative effects on children that practice
bullying and to the ones that are bullied. These effects can be physical, psychological, cultural
and academic. In his studies Srabstein explains, Bullies, victims, or bullies/victims had a
significantly higher risk of developing physical and emotional symptoms including obesity,
headaches, stomachaches, dizziness, backaches, feeling low, irritability, feeling nervous, and
sleep difficulties (Kupferman 99). The problem here is that not just a single group of student is
negatively affected, but all of them suffer in one way or another. The next issue here is that
bullying can lead to huge emotional distress, that very often, young students cannot handle. In
Kupfermans article, he tells the story of Brenda, one of her so-called friends entered Brendas
account and pasted her facial picture onto a picture of a naked adult body (97). The picture was
shown to her friends and to a young student like her, this was the most horrible thing that could
have happened. Brenda reported feeling humiliated (Kupferman 97). The problem with this
type of behavior is that the person on the receiving end can keep these things to themselves, and
it can lead to horrible results. The boys [and girls] who were frequently bullies or victims of
bullying had a higher likelihood of suicidal behavior (Kupferman 102). Now, this is this the
biggest issue with bullying because students can feel so rejected and so abused that they decide

Cruz Arreola 4
to end their lives, and that should not be the type of thoughts that a person who is just starting to
live should have. Bullying also affects the culture and certain values a student has. Often this
only applies to immigrant students that have grown with a different set of values. Dumas
explains how her name means turquoise, but when she was twelve, she decided to add an
American middle name in order to fit in (352). Now, the name a person is given at birth, is one of
the most important things that identifies a person, the culture and place where they are from, so
for someone to give that up and in a way give up on that aspect of themselves is just not right or
fair for any individual. The problem here is that even when you might want to keep your name
and customs to challenge the status quo, eventually you will have to comply, My brothers, Farid
and Farshid, thought that adding an American name was totally stupid. They later became Fred
and Sean (Dumas 353). The issue in this case is that they saw a clear advantage to changing
their names, to stop being bullied or discriminated by their peers, but in doing so they gave up a
little bit of themselves. The last aspect of a students life that is adversely affected by bullying, is
their academic performance, Finally, poor grades, absenteeism, and low school attendance have
been associated with bullying (Kupferman 101). As explained by Kupferman students are not
focused on their school work, they stop going to school out of fear of being bullied, and the
result of that is that their grades will always drop. This is not fair to any student, since every
student is promised and should be provided with an environment of equality in school, and
bullying takes the excitement of learning and going to school away from them.
Another source of discrimination towards students surprisingly comes from the same
school system that is supposed to help them succeed. Again this type of discrimination suffered
by certain groups of students is unfair. It violates the ideals of the American Dream, the dream
that everyone is supposed to be the same in the eyes of the school. The way that the school

Cruz Arreola 5
system discriminates students is by using a practice called academic tracking, Academic
tracking "is the educational practice of categorizing students by curriculum. The practice
involves separating studentsostensibly on the basis of "ability"into different "tracks,"
"levels," or "groups," with distinct or differentially paced curriculums (Kasten 202). This
system is supposed to separate students based on their skill level, to better accommodate for their
educational needs, but the problem it creates is that often, students get placed in classes that are
mostly made up of minorities. Usually these classes are focused on just pushing students through
school rather than preparing them for college. As explained by Kasten, While this practice
[Academic Tracking] is facially race neutral, its effect is not. When tracking is employed in a
diverse district, students become racially segregated, with white students being placed
disproportionately in "fast or academic" tracks and students of color being largely relegated to
"slow or vocational" tracks (202). Now, its effect is obvious but there is a reason that this kind
of unfair system is still in place, However, disproportionate impact alone is not enough to make
out an Equal Protection violation (Kasten 203). This means that the effects of this kind of
discriminatory system is considered somewhat unintentional, and because of that it cannot be
banned or fought against. This system has been in place for a long time, but regardless of that, it
has two flaws that should be fixed and updated, In such a climate, an educational method
premised on the belief that only some students should be prepared for post-secondary education
is no longer viable (Kasten 238). In the past only some students actually wanted to go to
college, while many others just wanted to go to work, so the system worked because even if it
was disproportionate, most people actually wanted to go into the work force after high school,
and the ones that actually had the resources and the drive to go to college were often of white
decent. The issue here, in the supposed land of opportunities, is that in our modern society most

Cruz Arreola 6
people are required to get some college education in order to work, so everyone should have the
same chances and resources to accomplish that. Also according to the same ideal we all are
supposed to be equal, but as explained by Kasten, When the racial effects of academic tracking
are taken into account, it becomes clear that academic tracking perpetuates inequalities (238).
She clearly shows that this system does not promote equality, instead all it does is discriminate
against certain minority groups. The problem with this system is that it can affect students
futures, It impacts their chances of success in college in a very real way, and for those students
in the lower levels, it substantially limits their occupational choices and potential for financial
mobility (Kasten 238). So not only this discrimination affects a students chance of success in
school, but it can also affect their futures and potential for growth. This system further reinforces
all types of discrimination in school, and has the potential to shape students futures in a negative
way.
The last example of discrimination suffered by students through their lives is the way the
government discriminately and unequally shares and divides resources among school districts.
This violates the supposed ideal of the land of opportunities. Essentially, every last person on this
country has the chance to make it big time and fulfill all their aspirations. But sadly this rarely
holds true, Unfortunately, not all children are given the same toolsand this may ultimately
determine their fates (Brisport 17). This explains how children experience inequality early in
their education, and how that has the potential to shape their whole lives for the worst. Now,
these discrepancies are explained by Brisport, Insufficient funding for education, scarcity of
human and material resources, and the absence of programs geared towards success in certain
poverty-ridden minority areas (18). This can negatively affect the quality of education offered
by the school, because without the right resources to attend to students needs, said students will

Cruz Arreola 7
fail academically. Another way that this type of discrimination can negatively affect the quality
of education is how it can halt students learning process, On average, racially isolated minority
schools have larger classes, lower levels of teacher qualifications, and fewer of the educational
advantages that promote opportunity structures for students (Porter 595). This means that in
minority communities, the resources given to them are not enough to hire the necessary amount
of teachers, and very often schools hire the cheaper underqualified teachers in order to make up
for the amount of students that need to be educated. To add on top of that problem is the fact that
with bigger classes, these teachers face yet another challenge, When budgets are limited, class
sizes often increase, thereby diminishing teachers' ability to provide individualized attention and
learning (Brisport 24). The issue here is that not every kid learns the same way, so when they do
not get individualized attention, they slowly are left behind and eventually it comes to a point
where they cannot be helped anymore. Now this obviously can affect students in their futures,
Due in part to these disparities, minorities attending minority majority schools tend to have
lower occupational and educational aspirations, are less likely to attend college and acquire wellpaying jobs (Porter 595). This clearly shows how students futures are further challenged, so if
the American dream is to offer everyone the chance to succeed in life, then the way government
shares funds is clearly wrong. If the schools, where students are supposed to be prepared are not
given the resources to do that. Students futures will clearly be negatively affected by this
discrimination.
Lastly, some people might argue that it is so much better now that these types of
discrimination can just be ignored. And they are right on the fact that the conditions in education
have actually improved a lot. In the past minorities were severely deprived of any kind of
education, In the South, where plantation agriculture was the dominant form of economic

Cruz Arreola 8
production, the interests of powerful plantation owners were served by restricting educational
opportunities of a largely black tenant class (Porter 582). This shows how in the past black
people basically had zero access to education in order to keep them in the fields working. So the
step for equality in education was the ruling of Brown v Board of Education, because this set off
a series of events that have improved schools overall. Another sector of education that has
improved is the social side of it, as Dumas puts it, I have found that Americans are now far
more willing to learn new names (354). Meaning that they are more accepting of new cultures
and minorities overall. But as clearly shown in this discussion, there is much more room for
improvement, in order to help every single student succeed in school and in life.
Discrimination in school has been and to a certain degree will always be a part of the way
education and school works. The students, the school and the government will always make
differences among people. But that does not mean that people should not care about it. This is
because all types of discrimination are unfair. This is because if someone gets the better side of
the coin, then someone has to get the bad one, and this does not go hand in hand with the way the
general public pictures the Land of Equality and Opportunities. Instead it perpetuates inequalities
among its people that usually follows them for the rest of their lives.

Works Cited

Cruz Arreola 9
Brisport, Neda N. "Racism & Power: The Inaccessibility Of Opportunity In The Educational
System In The United States." National Lawyers Guild Review 70.1 (2013): 1729. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Sept. 2015.
Dumas, Firoozeh. "The "F" Word." Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers. Ed.
Paul A. Eschholz, Alfred F. Rosa, and Virginia P. Clark. 11th ed. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin, 2013. 351-54. Print
Kasten, Danielle. "Modern Day School Segregation: Equity, Excellence, & Equal Protection." St.
John's Law Review 87.1 (2013): 201-238. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Sept.
2015.
Kupferman-Meik, Fernanda E., Burris-Warmoth, Patricia., Rapaport, Susana, and
Roychoudhury, Kanchana. "Bullying In Children And Adolescents: A Healthcare
Perspective." Journal Of Social Distress & The Homeless 22.2 (2013): 94118. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 25 Sept. 2015.
Porter, Jeremy R., Frank M. Howell, and Lynn M. Hempel. "Old Times Are Not Forgotten: The
Institutionalization Of Segregationist Academies In The American South." Social
Problems 61.4 (2014): 576-601. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 18 Sept. 2015.