Pete Krusing

Sitting in Mr. Teson’s second hour Advanced Placement (AP) Government and Politics class, instead of focusing on the Brown vs. Board of Education court case, I cannot help but think about the future of our government. I wonder how president-elect Barack Obama will run the country and how he and his team will handle the 3.1 trillion dollar budget. I sit wondering whether Obama took a government and politics class when he attended high school. He must have taken several AP classes to go to Harvard, but from scanning the room, I do not see any African-Americans present to learn about how the first Black president will handle the struggling economy or possibly follow in his footsteps. Moreover, I have not had a single African-American in any of my three AP classes: U.S. History, Language and Composition, or Government and Politics. This trend has spread through Kirkwood High School (KHS) for years and has created a widening achievement gap between Caucasians and those of other races. If education is supposed to be the stepping stone for the future generations, there should be diversity in all the classrooms and not just all the hallways. The growing gap creates racial stereotypes within the school and the community. If Kirkwood wants to develop into a prejudice-free community and a community with respectful values, parents, teachers and administrators must take a decisive role in valuing the importance of education and narrowing the gap.

The initial step in bridging the achievement gap within the schools is to first understand the root of the problem. According to the Oct. 13, 2006 issue of the The Kirkwood Call, there were 253 Caucasian students enrolled into AP classes compared to 11 African-Americans, two Hispanics, and three Asians in 2003. In 2006, 362 Caucasian students were enrolled compared to 27 African Americans, three Hispanics and six

Asians. Although the difference is only twenty students over the four years, it is progress, which begins in the grade schools, according to Dr. Shirleas Washington, Kirkwood School District (KSD) executive director of student services. According to Washington, "‘Not all students have had the opportunity of early education,’" which would allow for a level playing field from the start of the student’s education (The Kirkwood Call). For the achievement gap to be bridged, the KSD must create an equal field of learning beginning in kindergarten. Understandably, some students will begin kindergarten at a higher level due to the environment of their upbringing, but some precedents must exist. For instance, when English teachers have to teach ninth grade students how to read, there is an underlying problem, according to Dr. David Holley, KHS principal. KHS teachers provide struggling students with help in specific categories of learning, but the teachers’ time should not be spent teaching the basic fundamentals of reading, but critical thinking skills. Teachers cannot set the high expectations necessary to push individuals while they are forced to re-teach such fundamental techniques. If this problem were to be addressed in the grade schools, then teachers would have more time to teach kids the critical thinking skills necessary to understand symbolism of the literary works such as the Odyssey or To Kill a Mockingbird. Of course, no solution will eliminate the problem, but just a bridging of the gap would create a greater respect and understanding between classmates, while creating more diversity within the upper level classes.

In order to create a prejudice-free community, we must go beyond bridging the gap in the classroom and bridge the diversity gap within the community. A solution for closing the diversity gap within Kirkwood begins in the selection of high schools. In

Kirkwood, parents can send their son or daughter to a handful of parochial schools within a five-mile radius of their homes. The solution begins with parents accepting the diversity that Kirkwood offers to a young adolescent in preparation for college and the real world. In my own grade school, St. Peter, 70 percent of students attended parochial high schools. When 70 percent of my grade school class selected parochial schools, they turned their backs to the positive and diversified environment of KHS in turn for a predominately white environment hoping the elitist atmosphere at the parochial school would propel the student ahead in the real world, while shielding the student from the negative stereotypes associated to KHS. According to Holley, "Kirkwood has always been a Statue of Liberty accepting all students no matter what and providing them with an outstanding education." KHS prides itself on diversity and the fact that it prepares students to be as successful as possible. In order to eliminate the growing separation within the community, parents and students must begin to acknowledge the value of diversity and the fact that an individual grows when exposed to all races. Students learn from hearing all angles of the story and the diversity of KHS brings forward every angle. The acceptance of diversity and its positive effects fosters the respectful nourishment of the young mind and heart through a respectful environment free of stereotypes and unfair judgment.

The problems our educational institutions face may never be solved; however, even a small bridging of the achievement gap would benefit the community. Students, both black and white, would learn from sitting arm to arm pondering the effect that the Tet Offensive had on America in the Vietnam War in Steve Platte’s AP U.S History or discussing the use of language in politics in Nancy Menchhofer’s AP Language and

Composition. Students would learn to accept and respect each other as human beings, not stereotypes. Also, students at parochial schools will begin to see the value of diversity within KHS, and the benefits of being exposed to those of every color, religion, background and family. The successful elimination of these stereotypes within the school would create a prejudice-free and highly respectful community beneficial to all. Just as Obama paves the way for minorities to find success in the real world, we also have a duty to pave the road for a respectful community for future generations, and that path begins with education.