Does going to a school in the suburbs do more harm than good for POC?

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This piece is based on my own personal experiences, and is really meant to bring about a conversation within our Black/Brown communities, surrounding the idea that sending children of color to schools in the suburbs is better for them. As with anything, there are pros and there are cons; so let's take a dive into what both of those looked like for me; A dark-skinned black girl who spent all of her childhood (with the exception of 4th grade) being the only (or 1 of 2) black child(ren) in her classes, and representing a race that only made up a handful of each school's respective demographic. 

PROS
  •  More advanced curriculum
  •  Access to technology
  •  More on-sight personnel (i.e. counselors, nurses, specialists, etc.)
  •  A plethora of extra-curricular opportunities (outside of just sports)
  •  My group of friends in middle school was very diverse (as a result I was introduced to other cultures).
  •  Some of my teachers were extremely encouraging. They really made me feel loved and seen.
  •  I had the opportunity to take a foreign language starting in middle school (I chose French, but they offered several other languages)
CONS …. WHEW GET READY!
  •  From what I remember, Black History Month stopped being celebrated school-wide after Elementary school (5th grade), or just wasn't acknowledged in the other K-5 schools I attended. As I entered High-School, I remember learning about Black History in my American Studies class and while it felt good in the moment to learn about my people, the topic was only covered for about 2-3 weeks. Then it was back to normal history; white history. 
  • In addition to Black history only being taught for a month, I was looked to to have every answer to Black issues and be the spokesperson for all Black people. 
* If you are a person of color and attended a school in the suburbs, or a school that was predominantly white, I KNOW you can relate to this one.
  • I was one of the only Black people in the school, so that meant I was the only Black person in most of my classes. This affected me the most when I was younger, because I hadn't experienced loneliness of that magnitude before. 
  •  Being Black made me the target of racist comments
ex. A white student in High School would run in and out of the rows of lockers and shout "white power"
  •  White students calling Black students "n*****." This never happened to me, but it's noteworthy.

* What's also extremely noteworthy is that in 1st Grade me and one of my friends pretended to draw on our desks during class. On this particular day we had a substitute teacher. My friend and I were talking and cackling during the lesson (why kids act up when there is a substitute I'll never know), being pretty distracting. This particular substitute walks over to me and my friend and sees that we were "drawing" on the desk (as she can't tell that we were just pretending) and scolds me in front of the class. That's right just me, not my friend; who if I haven't mentioned already, is white. While scolding me, the substitute teacher then knocks my pencil box to the floor and says "pick it up." I was humiliated in front of the entire class and didn't tell a soul until I was in High School, because, well, my Father would've acted a FOOL and rightfully so. I can't say that this was racially motivated on the teacher's end, but even at 6 years old I knew that I was Black, being degraded by a white teacher, and my friend didn't get so much as a scowl. 

The education that I received without a doubt prepared me for college , but at what expense? Would I have still been prepared for college and have a better sense of self if I attended a predominantly Black/Brown school? Would I have felt a sense of satisfaction and contentment if I attended a school named after a prominent figure in Black history? I'm not one to regret much in life, as I view everything as a lesson of some sort, and attending predominantly white schools in Dublin, OH and then again in Frisco, TX doesn't change that. But if God blesses me with the opportunity to have children, I can't say with confidence that I'd make the same decision. 

"Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go.” - James Baldwin

Ms. Pashea

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