Editor’s note: We’re publishing a series of op-ed articles from students in The Writing Program at USC. Every student in the class taught by Dr. John Murray and Stephanie Bower was required to make a short documentary about education by profiling a local school and/or program. Following the film project, the students wrote op-ed articles in response to their experiences and tackled some of the issues they discovered while making the shorts. We will be posting a new op-ed daily for the next two weeks.

by Jezreel Apelar

America has become more racially heterogeneous but the inner city schools have become more homogeneous. The zeitgeist of efforts to reform urban education have resulted in creating charter schools as a way to help assist minority students plagued with low scores and high drop out rates integrate into society.

In Los Angeles, a continuation high school called Central High School #13, attracts the Native-American youth of Los Angeles region. With a Native-American-dominated culture at the school, students are encouraged to explore their identity as Native-Americans. Their Native-American instructors also provide guidance to ease their students’ transition into the “real world.”

While it is great to be in an environment with people of same values and culture, many have accused such programs as segregation. Culture-specific schools such as Central High can be argued as reversing the order made 55 years ago by Brown vs. Board of Education. Although to some extent it is seen as segregation, the school is open to non Natives also especially if a student really wants to enroll here. Critics also say it’s not healthy for the children as they miss out on opportunities to interact with other types of people, but how will one get to know other people when they don’t even know themselves?

Even if these students were at a traditional high school they probably would not even be in school or would even think about graduating because they are already a critical mindset. Speaking with these students personally, they face identity crisis and feelings of inferiority. Central High School offers them what they want and what they need. It may seem like segregation, but it is a necessary one distinction to uplift these students from the pits where they feel they’re at and give them a new sense of pride of their great potentials.

I went to the most diverse high school in America – Long Beach Polytechnic High School. With a student population of roughly 5,000, we boasted a melting pot of different ethnicities and cultures. It sounds great but once you stepped onto campus, you notice right away that it is a very racially polarized place. All the black kids and athletes hung out on the North side of the school. The Hispanic kids were out in the soccer field or the Cafeteria. The Asian kids could be found inside classroom running club meetings, and the White Kids hung around the administration and music buildings. While that’s a general stereotype and of course there are students who intermingle with others, it is in the general collective psyche that students have about their school. I admit to being one that mapped out my school in such a way.

I am not racist and neither were people at my school. Students naturally bonded together because of common and shared values, not by law or because they share the same skin color. This shows that even in a traditional high school such as Long Beach Polytechnic, segregation still exists. But the students who are at Central High School are different and are even more in need of this type of continuation, culturally-specific school.

We cannot assume everyone fits into the mold of traditional public education. Students have circumstances that don’t really allow them to succeed and grow in the system. We need to offer them alternative ways of learning and cater their needs to help them succeed. Central High School gives these Native-American kids another chance. Their achievement scores are higher, their graduation rate is higher, and they’re happier to be in Central than their former schools. It is a small school doing big things and I am proud of everyone in it.