The High School of Commerce:

Racial & Class Inequality in Public Education

The Issue Commerce students are performing in the lower

20th percentile on the MCAs Commerce currently has a 43% graduation rate 13% of students will drop out of school before graduation (MA State Average = just under 3%)

Last year, Mass. was granted 25 million dollars in federal education funding - nearly 14 million of it

going to Springfield school systems.This year, 28 million dollars was awarded to 18

schools across Mass. The 11 level four schools in the district submitted plans demonstrating how they

would use their money, all of which were granted, except Commerce

If conditions don’t improve, Commerce will become a Level 5 school = the state comes in and takes over, leaving administrators and educators jobless

Assistant Principal Ed O’Gilvie

“ Over the last 4 years, Commerce has scored in the ‘warning’ or ‘failing’

category on the MCA’s. Of the 35 Level 4 Schools in MA, 11 of them are in

Springfield. The bigger picture is that Commerce may not receive state funding

next year due to its poor performance, and these busy classrooms and hallways

may be filed with new teachers. If we don’t turn things around, then we could be designated a Level 5 school and the

state will come in and take over.”

Who is to Blame?According to O’ Gilvie:According to O’ Gilvie:

“It’s going to take a combined effort. It’s going to take an effort from the entire school community. And when I say school community, we’re talking about staff, we’re talking about

administration, we’re talking about parents, and we’re talking about students .There is a lot of speculation about why we have

some of the problems that we do and some of the other high schools have been more successful.”

According to English Teacher (&Umass Alum) Brian According to English Teacher (&Umass Alum) Brian Duffey:Duffey:

“I think that until you really work even maybe multiple years in a school and spend day after day seeing the complexity of the kids reality and the complexity of which you’re expected to do, just the whole picture, it’s a very difficult thing to kind of wrap

your heads around in terms of where the solutions are and where the problems lie and who is responsible.”

Rationale for Topic ChoiceRationale for Topic Choice

Something I am personally involved & invested in

first hand, real-life experience in seeing the ‘inequalities & oppressions’ examined in class, and the real life implications of it on such scales as U.S. Gov’t

public education policy and assistance

Hope to sway some other classmates to enroll in JOURNAL 349C - COMMUNITY JOUNALISM PROJECT

W/ NICK MCBRIDE

Why is this Important?

The course is deeply rooted in the Fenly Peter Dunne maxim:

“ Afflict the comfortable & comfort the afflicted.”

Many of us, as products of middle/upper class upbringings and now higher ed - are so blissfully unaware or have become

so comfortable with a system that allows schools like Commerce to fall between the cracks. Seeing real life

examples is critical in reminding us of the true repercussions of such an unjust & unequal social, political, and educational

system in this country.

Pem Davidson Buck: “Constructing Race, Creating White

Privilege”IN GENERAL:

An overview of legislation/elite practices that laid the foundation for the blatant disparity in government

practices towards whites and non-whites of today - that can been seen through Commerce

1) 1691: Laws punishing women married to African/Indian men (could be whipped and enslaved w/o protest)

2) 1723: Property Owning blacks, mulattos, Native Americans denied the vote3) After 1723, laws began separating Europeans and African Americans - offering

material benefits to those who did not challenge white, elite oppression of “non-whites”

“ The initial construction of whiteness has been based on material benefits for whites, but by the 1830/40’s most

families identified by their European descent has several generations of believing their whiteness was real - but it’s

material benefit has faded…whiteness had become a benefit in itself.” [35]

Buck ContinuedThe elite’s manipulation of the white

masses creates a “Psychological Wage” = no material benefits, just an

internalized feeling of superiority (privilege) over non-whites

this was only heightened as the Industrial Revolution, and Capitalism, began to control America: whites were given the

more skilled/higher paying wages/better working conditions/better mortgages and homeownership

opportunities

Meizhu Lui: “Doubley Divided - The Racial Wealth

Gap”“ Race - constructed from a European vantage point - has

always been a basis of which U.S. society metes out access to wealth and power. Both in times when the overall wealth gap has grown and in times when a rising tide has managed to lift

both rich & poor boats, a pernicious wealth gap between whites & non-whites persisted.” [102]

Net Worth (Amount of Owned Assets minus debts) [2001]:African American Net Worth = $10,700Latina Net Worth = $3,000.White Net Worth = $106,400This is no coincidence, and has not changed much by 2011 -

“ The racial wealth gap has nothing to do with individual behaviors of cultural deficits. Throughout U.S. history, deliberate gov’t policies

have transferred wealth from whites to non-whites (affirmative action for whites).” [105]

How does this relate to Commerce?

Buck shows how the foundation was laid for the inequalities that have become so normalized in today’s society. Policy-makers since the 1700’s have created a system in which minorities are forced into a lower socio-economic status, equating to worse educations, lower net worth, poorer living conditions and higher rates of mortality - such as those living in Springfield, MA and attenting the High School of Commerce.

Lui shows how these policies have created a calculated wealth gap between whites and non-whites, in which there is a deliberate transfer of wealth and (social, political, educational) benefits from minorities to America’s white population, as can be exemplified through the comparison of Amherst to Springfield…a mere 30 minutes away from one another…

IN 2010Average Household Income in Amherst: $76,719

Average Household Income in Springfield: $49,498

Amherst Regional :

70.4% White/Non-Hispanic

7.1% Black/Non-Hispanic

8.3% Hispanic

The High School of Commerce:

11.6% white/non-Hispanic

34.3% Black/non-Hispanic

51.5% Hispanic

Level 4 High Schools in Amherst: 0

Level 4 High Schools in Springfield: 11

What Have I Learned?

From my time at Commerce, as well as this class - I’ve learned the critical importance of being educated about the wide array

of institutional inequalities in America, and the critical importance of engaging in it for yourself - whether it be

through a class like Comm. Journalism or simply volunteering somewhere... Not only does it offer you a world of perspective, it is the only potential to witness, and someday help to correct

these institutional injustices.

Works Cited

“Amherst, MA, Household Income Statistics." CLRSearch. Web. 16 Apr. 201 <http://www.clrsearch.com>.Buck, Pem D. "Constructing Race, Creating White Privilege." 32-37.Lui, Meizhu. "Doubly Divided - The Racial Wealth Gap." 102-07."Ranking of High Schools, Massachusetts." PSK12 Public School Rankings. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. <http://www.psk12.com/rating/USthreeRsphp/

STATE_MA_level_High_CountyID_0_year_2007_start_101.html>."Springfield, MA, Household Income Statistics." CLRSearch. Web. 16 Apr. 2011. <http://www.clrsearch.com>.