One important moment that opened my eyes to injustice was the process of finding the right High school. I noticed the big difference between Selective Enrollment schools and neighborhood schools. Selective Enrollment has abundant resources, latest technologies, strong extracurriculars, and more college prep programs. On the other hand, neighborhood schools, especially those in low-income areas often struggle with funding inequality, teachers disparities, basic material, and support. It made me realize how disturbing it is that many kids don’t receive a high quality education simply because of where they live. So let’s be honest, the government is setting us up to fail.
Every year, thousands of students go through stress, tears, and panic just to get into a high school. That’s right, high school. Something that should be a right, not an award. Students are forced to take hard tests, rank schools, and pray they get into their top choice. And when they don’t, they blame themselves thinking that they’re not smart or good enough. But it’s not our fault, it’s the system.
The “good” schools are limited, and the resources are distributed unfairly. Some kids go to school with brand-new science labs, mental health counselors, art programs, and clean bathrooms. Others go to schools where half of the books are torn, non-challenging courses, and the heat barely works during the winter. Why is it like this? Money.
The more money a school has the more resources and opportunities they’re going to get.The funds that a school gets, in other words property taxes, are often tied to the wealth of the school’s surrounding communities. Dividing where students live into ZIP codes. Some kids just get lucky on where they live, but that’s not fair and we all know it.
We take mental health classes where they teach us to breathe, how to color, or how to manage stress. But no one worries about why we’re stressed. It’s equivalent to giving peanuts to a deadly allergic person but saying “It’s okay because we have an epipen.” It doesn’t matter if you have the solution when the problem could have been avoided in the first place.
Let’s talk about teachers, they are tired, overworked, underpaid. And yet are still expected to teach a lot of students, expected to follow a curriculum that the government created, meet unrealistic goals, and take care of students’ emotional needs. Without any real support, they are being starved by the system. A lot of teachers are leaving, making schools’ understaffed because the system makes it impossible to survive. And when they leave, we lose.
Everyday we’re told that “with hard work we can do anything when we set our mind.” But what if you work hard and still get placed in a school with no resources, opportunities, and safety. I was told before that the High School I go to does not matter what matters is College. While I agree that the main goal should be college (If you want to go to college) every kid deserves a good education and a chance at life.
I’m not writing this to complain, I’m writing this because someone has to say it. Students are not lazy, Teachers are not machines. The government needs to stop treating education as a game.
Fix the funding, make school placement tests less stressful, stop pretending that a mental health worksheet can fix our emotions, give teachers a reason to stay, and give students a reason to have hope so that the future doesn’t feel like this forever.
Even starting small would help. Give more money to schools that need it most, not just schools in rich areas. Ask students and teachers for their opinions on what works before making new policies. Make sure that school could feel like a place where kids feel safe and can succeed. Change doesn’t have to be huge, it just has to start somewhere.
Because right now it feels like we’re losing a game we never agreed to play.
Valeria Hernandez – De La Salle Institute – DMSF Class of 2029
Photo Credit: tiero – Adobe Stock