10 GROUNDCOVER NEWS EDUCATION The students America forgot GINO GARCIA Wolverine Pathways student contributor I currently attend an alternative high school in Ypsilanti. As only 1.6% of students attend an alternative school, I have a different experience than many. I used to think of alternative schools as where the worst possible students attend school – juvie. But this common preconceived notion I had was ultimately shattered. Further adding to my rare perspective is my identity as an Asian-American student; a demographic almost non-existent in the alternative education system. Enrolled, but without particular reason, I spend most of my time feeling like a fly on the wall, just an outsider looking in. Having been there for well over a year, it has gifted me my most cherished school-related memory. That memory is one of accomplishment and joy — but not of my own personal accomplishment and joy. It was one of my first days there as I sunk into a routine of plopping down on a chair, eyes fixated on a SEGREGATION from page 4 other Black families would be trying to move into the comparatively prosperous neighborhood, so he would resell the properties to Black families for unreasonably high rates, knowing they were short on other options. Often, the real estate agent would also subdivide existing single-family homes into smaller units to make more of a net profit. The end result was merely an expansion of the poor, Black neighborhoods, with little improvement in living conditions. By the end of the 1940s, cities were incredibly segregated and racial tensions were high. World War II would be ending soon and the 16 million Americans who served in the war would be coming home. President Truman enacted a program through the Federal Housing Association to significantly subsidize the construction of suburban housing for veterans returning home — a plan that fully realized the American dream for millions of white families, increasing their generational wealth to this day. The FHA also offered a similar program that would insure home mortgages for “promising” neighborhoods. In order to determine where the new housing should be built for the best return on investment, the FHA would assign neighborhoods different colors: green and blue meant a good neighborhood, red meant bad. The catch? Neighborhoods with people of color computer screen, engrossed in schoolwork. But this was not a routine day. Commotion jolted me out of my trancelike state. I darted my eyes to find out what's happening; in front of me, a student excitedly spoke with a teacher. She proudly revealed she had just graduated, and the dozen people I shared the room with applauded her, celebrating the grand accomplishment. Joining in felt like clapping for someone I had known for a lifetime. But I didn’t know her. And I would imagine that those dozen people hadn't known her either. At the moment, we supported that student as a community despite our lack of familiarity with her, cheering for someone some of us didn't know before then — it’s why I treasure that moment still to this day. An alternative school’s provided sense of community and support could be treasurable factors to others as well. It remains an option for those going through excruciating life circumstances such as homelessness, teen parenthood and LGBTQ+ discrimination to further their education. But unfortunately, lots were almost automatically rated red and undesirable. So as white families’ real estate was being subsidized, Black families were left behind in the inner cities in divested neighborhoods. To make matters worse, the FHA’s neighborhood rankings were used by a wide range of industries, private and public, including real estate developers, real estate agents, business owners and banks, to determine whether a place was a good investment. Even wealthier Black families were less likely to be approved for mortgages, largely due to their zip code. After millions of white Americans moved to the suburbs, companies followed suit, thereby decreasing the job opportunities for Black Americans in the city. The resources they needed were leaving, but they were unable to follow. Black men could not find manufacturing jobs nearby, so many of them dropped out of the workforce. Black women started to work in the service industry to make up for the loss of income from manufacturing jobs in their communities. In many ways, this is a story of generational wealth and racial oppression. For centuries, Black families have been blocked from the same government services and funding on which white families have built their wealth. Efforts to create more affordable housing for Black families has been lackluster. Public housing, for example, was often built in isolated, undesirable neighborhoods that lacked nearby job of alternative schools across the country don't provide this type of community or safe environment. For many students, alternative schools are places they're sentenced to, not options. According to a 2017 ProPublica Survey, 29 out of the 39 State Education Departments stated that school districts retain the power to transfer students involuntarily to alternative programs due to disciplinary infractions. A staggering number of students are involuntarily sent to these schools for minor offenses and entirely fall off their educational track. Furthermore, this survey demonstrates that these transfers contribute to America’s decrease in graduation rates and academic performance. On top of that, a majority of these institutions lack the resources to offer adequate mental health support for the students sent their way. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, 47% of traditional schools had at least one social worker, whereas, for alternative schools, that number is an abysmal 26%. In every school district opportunities or social connections with people who did not surveyed, students had experienced debilitating trauma such as homelessness, poverty, the death of a loved one or gang violence; such findings remain consistent with trauma research surrounding behavior and education. From staffing issues to low budgets, these institutions lack the capability to meet the students' psychological needs. Unfortunately, this is another case of the embarrassing lack of support for the most underserved and vulnerable populations in the United States. Lacking the necessary funds to make a widespread difference, these schools struggle in a climate where public education is already underfunded enough as it is. This experience has changed my perception and opened my eyes to the pitfalls of America's education system. My time there has imparted me with an experience I hold dear while fueling my desire to bring awareness to our system’s downfall. Thus, alternative schools require an extensive revamp, noticeably because the students attending them always end up forgotten. JULY 28, 2023 live in extreme poverty. Its infrastructure was also not maintained. Still today, middle-class, educated Black families live in fundamentally different neighborhoods from white middle-class families. Even the few Black neighborhoods that managed to thrive despite the countless obstacles they faced continued to be targeted by racist policies and development. In the 1950s, for example, highways, stadiums and luxury housing were purposefully built on majority-Black neighborhoods to displace them from desirable locations. The Black residents were not paid the full value of their property, were not given a choice to stay and were not provided with equal-value housing elsewhere in the city. Today, there continues to be a lack of affordable housing. This harms low-income people, who are disproportionately people of color, but other populations also bear the consequences of a lack of diversity and working class people in their city. Before we judge someone’s living or financial situation, we should remind ourselves of the near-insurmountable obstacles that have plagued people of color for hundreds of years. It is in all of our interests to fight for more affordable housing in Ann Arbor, and to provide services to help those that our current housing market has failed. We made decisions in the past that got us into this mess, and now we must consciously make decisions that lead us out of it. PUZZLE SOLUTIONS
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