Editors’ Note: This piece was written as part of a collaboration between the Kentucky Student Voice Team and Young Authors Greenhouse. Through our Education Justice Writing workshops, young people from across Kentucky participated in a series of interactive lessons to support them to tell their stories of education inequities. They learned how to write commentaries and make an impact with words, and we are excited to share their extraordinary pieces on The Student Voice Forum.
As a Black female, discrimination is always surrounding me. But would you think it happens at school, the place that is supposed to be inclusive in every way possible? Well, the truth is that because of who I am, inequity will follow me everywhere until the day I die. Even if I don’t like it, people see me differently because of what I look like and the stereotypes surrounding my race and gender. In fact, young Black women like me often see themselves through the lens of those stereotypes, too.
Growing up, I always had been top of my class and interested in a specialized program. When I was accepted into a competitive pre-engineering program, I was ecstatic. But when I got there, I looked around and saw only a few faces that looked like mine. This made it feel as if the school system thinks that the majority of white males in the class were meant to be there and the other individuals that didn’t fit into that category were just tokens to make it seem as if there is some sort of diversity. I needed to understand this.
Even if I don’t like it, people see me differently because of what I look like and the stereotypes surrounding my race and gender.
When I asked why I didn’t see more Black girls in my advanced class, my teacher explained that our program received very few applicants from students of color. I think I may know more about why. In elementary school, despite all my determination and hard effort, I always thought that I would never have the same success as my fellow white scholars. They always got praise from the teachers and the achievement awards, and I would be ignored. I felt like all the white students in the class were seen as higher than the rest of us, and I saw no reason for that other than the color of their skin.
This wasn’t just my experience. According to a study by the Education Trust, in Kentucky there are just 31 Black students in gifted and talented programs for every 100 who would need to be enrolled to ensure fair representation. Another study by the National Science Board in 2016 about Black girls in STEM reported on the impact of underrepresentation: “The experiences of white girls have been normalized as representative of all girls, which leaves Black girls invisible and positions them as deficient if they do not align with this characterization.” If women in STEM are primarily white, who was I to look to as an example?
I felt like all the white students in the class were seen as higher than the rest of us, and I saw no reason for that other than the color of their skin.
Kristina Campbell’s study, Missing In Action: Black Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, confirms that the problem starts early and is cultural. Campbell argues that since teacher recommendations are based on Black girls’ behavior rather than achievement, teachers may label them lacking when they are young when they do not conform to white, middle class behavioral norms. This therefore can thwart even the most gifted Black girls’ path to STEM success. “Black girls that ask questions and routinely participate may overwhelm teachers who could then misinterpret their zeal for that of a student that does not fully understand the material,” Campbell writes.
If women in STEM are primarily white, who was I to look to as an example?
Research further shows that discrimination can affect our self image. Jesus Alfonzo’s study in the Society for Study of School Psychology documents how daily discrimination is negatively linked to perceived academic achievement. His analysis suggests that discrimination keeps Black students from even applying to special programs because they don’t think they are worthy of the experiences.
To be completely honest, I would not have applied to my specialized program if it weren’t for my mom’s encouragement. Despite my achievement, no one else pushed me to succeed. In order to give Black students the advantages white students already have, we should support more academically gifted Black females early on in their education and steer them into specialized programs. To do that, we must attack discrimination in the way we identify promise at the earliest grades. If we start from the beginning of the problem, we may be able to fix it from the root.
Ivory Bobbitt 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.
