Diversity In Schools

Most of my friends that go to the town’s public school don’t get this opportunity and truthfully they are missing out.” - Student from High Tech High School. 

A group of girls sitting in the lunch room, one having bright blonde hair with striking gray eyes, the other with dark braids wrapped around her shoulder, her nails a color as bright as the sun, and then a short curly brunette girl with full eyebrows. All gathered in a small table near the staircase, where each individual carries something unique about themselves that the other does not share. 

“Danish pastries are so good y’all have to try to one when we go out”

“Have you even tried fufu, trust me you're missing out.”

“One day I have to make you my mom’s couscous, I’m definitely putting y’all on.”

 In a place where people seek comfort in differences, where people want to see different colors, where people feel at ease to see someone that doesn’t resemble them. Walking into the sounds of students laughing and asking, "What's your ethnicity?” feeling interested in what they have to say. 

Schools in New Jersey, specifically the Hudson County, have seen a gradual decline of diversity within schools. Many of the public schools in each town are usually packed with the students of that town's population. 

The reason doesn’t lie with the school but of the town, where many of the buildings are in or have been in the process of renovation, where landowners raise the prices of rent forcing tenants to move out against their will, so that they could renovate the building and create a modernized condominium instead. This situation has been ongoing throughout the County which affects schools and their diversity. 

Most tenants, especially in Hoboken try to gentrify throughout this process which ultimately causes the public school system to follow the same path. 

Why is this bad?

Students are meant to learn and grow with classmates of different backgrounds so that they won’t fall behind with cultural differences in the future. By being surrounded with people of different ethics, cultures, and religion students are able to grow and prevent cultural shock in the future, which happens when one isn’t surrounded by different cultures. 

America especially is a place where one has to know different cultures, ethics, and religion because it falls under the category of respect, and this all starts with school and education. When they aren’t introduced to differences from a young age it becomes hard to adapt when they grow up and eventually face these challenges.

In a place like America where people are supposed to know their peers' cultures, they are instead separated and gentrified. 

“I learned that Ramadan is a month where muslims fast from sunrise to sunset” - Student from High Tech High School.

High Tech High School breaks this cycle, where students from all over the county gather in a joined school. Students from different ethnicities, ethics, and cultures sit around a small lunch table having meaningful conversations they won’t be able to find in the neighboring schools. 

This school helps students break free from their small circle they have created, they get to be surrounded by students that look different from them.

“The 4 years I’ve spent here I’ve grown both academically and socially, I was happy to learn about people who differ from me.” A student from High Tech High School claims. 

This outcome, this review is what all of Hudson County should be given a chance to experience. High Tech High School is glad to accommodate students of all races, however that accommodation should be provided to everyone, not just magnet schools. 

Having to sit with someone that looks different, shares different customs, and might even bring their lunch for you to try, be glad because in other schools that's not the same case.