Throughout my school, I only really see people that are like me: white people. I am in a STEM-based program for advanced students learning at a fast pace, and my peers are mainly white males. I wonder to myself why there aren’t other people of other races or genders. Our school systems are made for white students.
Within many schools in Kentucky there is little racial diversity in advanced education programs, which shows up in K-12 and postsecondary levels.
According to the “UK Demographics & Diversity Report” there are around 29–30,000 students at the University of Kentucky. The report shows that 73.6% of the students are white, while just 6.6% of the students are Black or African American. This despite the fact that Black students are more than 10% of Kentucky’s youth population. There is a clear problem with this: African American and Black students are underrepresented in the biggest institution of higher learning in Kentucky.
This lack of diversity doesn’t only occur in higher education. The National Center for Education Statistics has a table that shows the breakdown of K-12 public school students in gifted and talented programs by sex and race/ethnicity through 2004–2014. In the 2013–2014 data set, there were 108,093 students in a specialized program located in Kentucky, 94,470 of whom were white, while just 5,786 of the students were Black or African American. That’s just 6.1% of the student population and again much less than Black or African American student representation in Kentucky as a whole. The data shows that if you aren’t white, you could have a lower chance of attending a competitive education program.
“There is a clear problem with this: African American and Black students are underrepresented in the biggest institution of higher learning in Kentucky.”
I personally have not faced racism directed against me because I am white. But I have seen racism in action, especially at school and on social media.
I once had a class where I suspected that the teacher was biased against the Black students. My class had nearly all of the Black students in the program, and I noticed a huge difference between how she treated me versus my peers. One time, we were taking our unit test and she had started the other class’ 60 minute timer right when they started the test. With my class, however, she had started the timer when we walked in the door before we even got seated. The other class even got extra time on the test while we didn’t. She also acted more friendly with white students and had an attitude with non-white students. One of my friends who is Black and I had been giving people gum in class. The teacher noticed that both of us were giving people gum, but she only yelled at my friend and asked her to stay after class. Given the circumstances, it felt as though there was no way this was an “accident.” It seemed obvious that bias played a role.
According to the Fayette County Public Schools’ employee handbook, “No person shall be subjected to discrimination in regard to…race, color, religion or sex.” That means if a teacher were openly racist, they would be fired. But my specialized middle school program doesn’t have many students of color which makes me wonder whether the school system has systematic racial bias that goes beyond any single teacher’s bias.
“Given the circumstances, it felt as though there was no way this was an “accident.” It seemed obvious that bias played a role.”
Many students complain about school dress codes, especially females, and I’ve noticed that Black females will get dress coded for the most insignificant reasons. One time my friend was dress coded just for a see-through shirt, but her shirt was not see-through at all. It had been a bit tight, but she could not help how her clothes fit with her figure. At the same time, I’ve seen many white students wear crop tops or see through shirts, but they weren’t dress coded. And the racial bias in dress codes and dress code reinforcement goes beyond shirts.
In my school’s dress code, one piece of clothing that is considered unacceptable is a durag. With durags being banned, it gives off the idea of administrations believing the students are associated with gangs or criminal activity. Black men are being criminalized. Students at John Muir High School in Pasadena, California have protested against the ban of durags for this same reason in early 2019.
“I want to be able to interact with people that aren’t just like me.”
I have seen too many students of color encounter racial bias that can hold them back from participating more fully in learning. In many schools there isn’t much diversity, and that particularly includes specialized programs like mine. As a white student, I feel like I’m missing something. I want to be able to interact with people that aren’t just like me.
Lily Swanagin is a part of the Kentucky Student Voice Team and Young Authors Greenhouse’s 2021 Education Justice Writing Cohort. She is an 8th grader at Leestown Middle School in Lexington, Kentucky.
