Margarita Amezcua: Here. Yeah, we will.
Margarita Amezcua: If Elisa comes in, then we will welcome here. But let's get started. Um, okay. Well hello everyone. I hope you're all having a lovely day so far.
Margarita Amezcua: I'm extremely excited for all of you to hear all these wonderful voices. We had a pre run kind of on Friday and it went well. So I'm really excited for you guys to hear from students all over the state.
Margarita Amezcua: Just remind to all panelists and audience members. This is a pre recorded event. So it will be available on the SPS website later today, or maybe a little later than today.
Margarita Amezcua: Before we begin, I kind of want to acknowledge the purpose of today's discussion, I think in the education world and realm. We get a lot of
Margarita Amezcua: Numbers and data and pretty words like equity and equal access, but I think that we need to humanize those numbers. I think a lot of times we hear these and we're like, okay, I understand that. Okay, and it's
Margarita Amezcua: A repetitive thing. And I think it's important to recognize that it's more than just those pretty words, we have to humanize in those numbers now though, the data is important.
Margarita Amezcua: It doesn't give us proximity to the pain that students feel every day in classrooms, you know, and that's what we need, we need to understand each other. We need to understand the pain you understand the stories experiences.
Margarita Amezcua: So with that being said, I'd like to give the panelists. I can see introduce themselves give a little blurb. I'm going to go real quick. First
Margarita Amezcua: My name is Margarita. I'm a squat. I'm the student board member on the State Board of Education and I yeah that was my little blurb that I gave a minute ago. So we'll go for the talking order as well. We'll go SRAM Ali AJ Moneta Jennifer should fall
Margarita Amezcua: Okay so sure.
Shreya Mehta: Oh, thank you, Margarita. So my name is Drew, and I'm a high school I got I'm on the also student voice in advisory council and our equity.
Ally Sutherland: Hi, my name is Alice Sutherland, I go to one ball high school and I'm about to senior
Ally Sutherland: And I started a petition to add ethnic studies into our curriculum and yeah I'm really excited for you to
Margarita Amezcua: Do
AJ Lopez: Yeah, my bad. I'm AJ Johnson Lopez.
AJ Lopez: Got a Bainbridge high school. I'm going to be a junior, and I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences and hearing others.
Mineva Misiaita: How many names. We know that go to Auburn ERISA high school about to be a junior, and I joined this panelists group because I wanted to help impact the way as teachers and admins view situations on different students and how to handle it.
Jennifer Tran: Hello everyone, my name is Jennifer Tran, and I go to foster High School.
Jennifer Tran: I'm about to be an upcoming senior and I'm an organizer for the Institute for Kimmy leadership.
Shafaq Buttar: So hi, everyone. My name is should fog and I also got to foster High School, and I'm going to be a rising senior this year. And I'm just here because I want to like hear your guys's voices and what I'm impact we can do
Margarita Amezcua: Lovely, thank you guys.
Margarita Amezcua: Well, you can hear from students all over the state. A lot of what they're saying is that our education is set up in a very binary system.
Margarita Amezcua: If you don't take these classes good looking into this college is. Oh, you didn't take this class, you didn't pass this test. Well, have fun failing, you know, kind of things like that.
Margarita Amezcua: And thankfully, that ends up affecting by PLC. A lot of the time in a disproportionately high level. So at this point, our overarching question. She just be you see again, all those numbers all this data. So
Margarita Amezcua: What isn't changing, you know. So with that, I want to give you guys the first question. So again, let's just say it's going to go. Australia alley aging another Jennifer and then shift. Okay.
Margarita Amezcua: Okay. So our first question today is going to be what does equity mean to you.
Shreya Mehta: Yeah, that's a really good question to start off with. I mean, it's why we're all here.
Shreya Mehta: Um, you know immediately you hear equity and you think everyone gets an equal opportunity, but it also provides stepping stones for people who maybe are part of like a marginalized community or
Shreya Mehta: You know they've had to put some part of their identity. So regardless of that.
Shreya Mehta: And regardless of how supportive their parents are or their guardians are how supportive their community has been where you live, what school you go to you are given the same opportunity to be successful. And you were supported, to the extent which you need
Ally Sutherland: Yeah, I would. I would say equity is just making sure that
Ally Sutherland: Students have what they need. If you look at success. It's kind of like a race or some students that get a head start automatically. And then there's other students who
Ally Sutherland: Are still on the starting line halfway through it. And so, like, what can we do to help those students, you know, whether it's
Ally Sutherland: Them having a mental health issues, you know, discrimination or family problems or whatever it may be, that's holding them back. We're making sure that we're helping them and providing
Ally Sutherland: Them with the support they need in order to catch up and be just as successful as those other students.
Ally Sutherland: It's also having it in our education, making sure that you know all students walk into a classroom and they get to learn about their history and their culture and their backgrounds.
Ally Sutherland: Not just their white counterparts, which is a big issue and why it's important that we have an education and just in our schools to make sure that all students are getting what they need.
AJ Lopez: Yeah, so I see equity as
AJ Lopez: Having the resources.
AJ Lopez: To make sure I've earned can be successful, but then also taking the extra steps to make sure those resources get to those who need it most. And yeah, that's, I kind of see it as yeah
Mineva Misiaita: Like. AJ said, I think it's important that equity is getting the resources to those who need it most. Because
Mineva Misiaita: With equity like people see mostly just equality and with the quality that's already passed equity. I feel like equalities when
Mineva Misiaita: You're ready are equal and you're just maintaining it. But the thing that people miss is with equity. Not everyone is equal. Yeah, so
Mineva Misiaita: Getting those to those who actually need it and not just providing more help for those are already past the finish line. That's the most important stuff and helping those who
Mineva Misiaita: Are can't maintain the status high status in their academic or career path choice. I think that's an equity truly for me.
Jennifer Tran: I think we never made a pretty good points about what the difference between equity and equality.
Jennifer Tran: Like equity is is equal opportunities for base and filling in based on each individual's needs while the quality is that everyone gets the same thing.
Jennifer Tran: And to as an example to Alan to the metaphor of like distance runners.
Jennifer Tran: Everyone can start on the starting line. That's the quality, but what equity could also mean is that a coach can also help out to certain athletes that are need help to get more practice so they can
Jennifer Tran: Be at the same level, if not the same level. But so they can be a par As there are other runners.
Shafaq Buttar: So unto me so equity means that when you're able to experience like fair
Shafaq Buttar: Treatment opportunity at the same time, I also feel like it's able to take off obstacles towards a specific group of people, because in our community. We have a lot of like diversity and
Shafaq Buttar: People from all over the place. And so equity is when you're able to like give equal opportunity and note. It also has to do with discrimination as well, in my perspective.
Margarita Amezcua: Yeah, thank you guys really quick. We have one more panelists.
Margarita Amezcua: Alyssa. Go ahead, you can introduce yourself and then good, feel free to answer the first question of equity. Okay.
Alicia Ing: Hi everyone, I'm so sorry for being late. I was stuck in our work meeting earlier, which is why I'm a few minutes late, but
Alicia Ing: Hopefully I'm not too late. So my name is Elisa and I graduated recently fermented High School. This past spring.
Alicia Ing: And I am going to be a incoming freshman at U. Dub this fall, studying business and I'm hopefully going to take that degree into d i work so diversity, equity inclusion.
Alicia Ing: I want, I wanted to be part of this panel and I really took advantage of the opportunity to speak today because I care a lot
Alicia Ing: About the diversity that's within my community, and I know how impactful. It's been in shaping myself in the direction that I want to take my life and my work in
Alicia Ing: I've had a lot of experience working in advocacy for diversity and inclusion also affordable housing and I am also working for a nonprofit, which is
Alicia Ing: targeted towards providing resources for students navigating the college admissions process and
Alicia Ing: College and Career counseling. So that's why I'm here. And yeah, so thank you so much and to answer the question that we've already been talking about.
Alicia Ing: I agree with completely with what everyone else's and saying about making sure that there's a distinction between equity and inclusion. I think that's so important and it's really not.
Alicia Ing: Talked about enough for me. Also, in terms of equity. I think that accessibility is a huge part of it, whether we're talking about
Alicia Ing: Accessibility to mental health counseling, we're talking about accessibility to Career and College counseling.
Alicia Ing: It's, it's not enough just to say that we have these opportunities available for students, but we need to make sure that these opportunities are being
Alicia Ing: Presented to students in a way that they can really access them and that helps them with wherever they want to take their life, especially considering like post secondary options. So, yeah.
Margarita Amezcua: Yes, thank you. One
Margarita Amezcua: The next question will be what is a misconception. You guys think that a lot of dogs have about students as, as in as it relates to equity.
Shreya Mehta: Yeah.
Shreya Mehta: The first thing that really comes to mind is just the fact that so many teachers or administrators aren't aware that students are don't really know that students really want to be a part of the conversation.
Shreya Mehta: The thing is to be doing all of this equity work interview like planning, like, oh, this is how we're going to start teaching this but never getting any input from, you know, your students of color or
Shreya Mehta: Any other students that are being impacted by your new changes, you're basically just running in the dark. You don't know what's going on.
Shreya Mehta: It's a good step, but you need to incorporate student voice. And I think a lot of administrators and it's great that the state board wants to kind of be hearing us about this.
Shreya Mehta: Just listening to student voice because that's how we know that we're heading in the right direction and how we know what changes to make
Ally Sutherland: Yeah, I totally agree with Trey, I also think
Ally Sutherland: Bring it back in the conversation of equity versus equality, a lot of teachers, look at it as a fact of, oh, well, we'll treat every student, the same and we'll make sure that every student
Ally Sutherland: Gets the same treatment as everyone else. When really, we need to start recognizing recognizing the challenges that some students go through and how we can help them with those challenges and push them up.
Ally Sutherland: To get them to the same level of success that other students can get to so easily.
Ally Sutherland: Also something that I think needs to be addressed is you know when a student is failing or struggling in their classes or whatever we call them.
Ally Sutherland: You know, not hard working or not trying hard enough, when really you know you don't know what's going on at home. You don't know what's going on internally, you don't know
Ally Sutherland: Any part of their personal life, you know, students aren't just machines that can do homework and come to
Ally Sutherland: Classes at all day and do with drama or whatever it may be that you go to school.
Ally Sutherland: And see, but also there's so many things I go and notice that students are going through and we need to start taking accountability and making sure that students feel safe and feel like they're getting what they need.
AJ Lopez: Um,
So,
AJ Lopez: Yeah, I kind of like being so like for the teachers and stuff. They're kind of like they should be more open minded, I would say, I'm inside grouping kind of students because every soon so different in their own way and then misconceptions
AJ Lopez: Yeah, that count. We don't want it like we have a lot to say. And they just sometimes assume that we don't want to speak like they just give us like big titles or something and then like our actual ability to achieve what we want to do is kind of limited
AJ Lopez: So I think yeah misconception that
AJ Lopez: We don't want to always talk or speak out or have big, big jobs or yeah tasks. And then also, yeah. Yeah, that's summarizes it
Mineva Misiaita: I agree. The big part of
Mineva Misiaita: What sherry said I'm for never incorporated into students opinion. This summer I was in a student equity cohort group. And that was most of them for her.
Mineva Misiaita: Ever and in school and you know we have surveys for the school. I've been to because surveys I how we feel comfortable comfortability academically.
Mineva Misiaita: And I feel like there's questions there, it's really based on one kind of one group. It's kind of more questions. I'm
Mineva Misiaita: Successful group and I feel like the the issue with that is that when it's based like that it's hard for the rest of us to see ourselves.
Mineva Misiaita: Any other way because when we identify that we're not within that group.
Mineva Misiaita: Then we're just seeing ourselves as a lower. And fortunately, I've always been in the privileged academic AP honors groups.
Mineva Misiaita: So I never had to experience what it felt like I know many of my other friends who literally could have been in the same group says mine if they're presented with the right opportunities.
Mineva Misiaita: And if the counselors reached out more to them that spring also in the equity aspect of not just having
Mineva Misiaita: Resources available, but making sure that you present them well to us because you can lay it out in front of us. But if you don't show us what is for us and what is not right for us.
Mineva Misiaita: We're just going to go with whatever you focus and and I think that's a big issue and misconception within our school is that they don't want input in that they don't want us to feel like
Mineva Misiaita: We have a power in choosing what we were, we want to go with this and that the school is just another place in our academic career.
Mineva Misiaita: Path say and what they don't realize is that we know high school, especially is a big part of where your college career and your successful pathway goes and when you don't present
Mineva Misiaita: opportunities and resources well to us. It is our fault for not taking it upon ourselves to go research more about it. But as our counselors and our teachers, we would expect an extra push an extra help towards our goals.
Jennifer Tran: Um, is something I can't, I can't speak for all students, but I've been something
Jennifer Tran: I've noticed as a student is that I think what teach. I think what teachers I think should do is that they should listen listen more to students, rather than just give them advice.
Jennifer Tran: About how they should deal with their problems, because each situation is different and another misconception is. That's a weird that is that's a we can because we
Jennifer Tran: BECAUSE WE ARE YOU FOR WE CAN WE START WE START petitions, we can do civic engagement. We can do stuff in the community. So we can do six of those so
Jennifer Tran: I think teachers and staff should and people and adults should know that we are also human beings. And we also make mistakes as students and
Jennifer Tran: I think that I think as students, what we have to do is that, we also have to work to get together with other teachers and staff to make sure that they are doing what they're doing. As teachers and making sure they are doing their job.
Shafaq Buttar: And I feel like a misconception that adults have in schools that a lot of students are. I'm like, not human perspective, like, there'll be like
Shafaq Buttar: Okay, they have to come to school, they cannot bring their like issues in and all that stuff. But at the same time there's like kids who also feel like schools, the only place they could have a safe place.
Shafaq Buttar: And sometimes teachers can be a little bit not understanding towards things and I feel like you'll be penalized for everything you do. Like, for example, if some like if you have like a pet died in your house, um,
Shafaq Buttar: And there'll be like, Why do you turn it in late, but they'll still say okay got 5% off or like 10% off, but they won't really understand why you had to like do that. And sometimes I feel like they just want us to be perfect, which we can't
Alicia Ing: So for me, personally, I think that the biggest misconception. I see in the adults have about students is that
Alicia Ing: Students will ask for help if they need it. I think that a lot of times at my school that I've seen is we have stuff like
Alicia Ing: college and career counselors, we have stuff like a
Alicia Ing: Clinic and center school that offers mental health counseling and stuff like that, but students if students don't know that those opportunities are there and those resources are there.
Alicia Ing: They're not going to know to access and on top of that, if they're part of a group that's been traditionally disadvantaged that's been traditionally
Alicia Ing: You know disenfranchised, then they're not going to know that those opportunities will be able to help them. I think that also, I think, AJ touched on this is that just because student positions of leadership exists in schools. So, for example, ASP.
Alicia Ing: That doesn't mean that students necessarily have any influence or any impact on the things that happened. Our school
Alicia Ing: I've had in my own experience that I've been on ESPN we've presented things to our administration, but our administration frankly hasn't taken us seriously or hasn't really
Alicia Ing: Wanted to spend the time with us to speak about it. So I think that there is a really clear distinction between
Alicia Ing: Having seat at the table and then having a voice in the conversation and students need to be able to have that voice because if they're just having a seat at the table just to say that it's there.
Alicia Ing: That's not really impacting our lives and our education in any meaningful ways
Alicia Ing: So I think that students are definitely have more of an impact, like everyone said and teachers need to be able to identify students that need help and need resources and encourage them to be connected with them not to say that they exist.
Margarita Amezcua: Yes. So good. So good. Oh, I think what I'm hearing from most of you guys is just that intentional specificity specificity actually makes it more universal
Margarita Amezcua: The more you bring comfort people, students, you, the more you make them feel more comfortable, the more they're going to be engaged and where you listen to them. We're going to be there and present and want to learn and do the thing that supposed to do in a classroom, you know,
Margarita Amezcua: Just out of curiosity, have you guys experienced anything by like counselors or teachers or admins of like being grouped in one certain thing and then maybe not given an opportunity or maybe push towards something or anything like that.
Shreya Mehta: You know what kind of comes to me like
Shreya Mehta: Combined is just, again, Elisa said about how you can be in that situation where it's like, oh, they supposedly have some kind of power, or like some kind of voice at school, but
Shreya Mehta: Speaking from like what we've heard in our little panel and
Shreya Mehta: From friends all over the state ASP has turned completely from that place of hey, we can give students voice to a very specific group of students that does not look out for the general will be the school and what comes to mind that's really heart wrenching is
Shreya Mehta: This year my school are ASB voted against having a Black Lives Matter assembly in February, you know, all of our speakers were planned in our Executive Council decided
Shreya Mehta: That the majority of them like our majority white school would feel too uncomfortable to have that kind of assembly and it just wouldn't feel applicable anyone but
Shreya Mehta: You know that it's just and you expect someone like some kind of teacher to be like, no, that's not okay. How dare you say that
Shreya Mehta: Learning about someone else's experience learning about something really important does not like needs to make you uncomfortable. Like, how dare you say that it makes you uncomfortable and cancel it for the entire school but when
Shreya Mehta: The teacher or like inviter is consistent and just like, you know, I don't really care. There's my hands are tied it to your thing when you have that in
Shreya Mehta: That person in power does reinforce equity either. How many students are missing out. How many students could have learned something or felt more heard
Shreya Mehta: So that's what comes to mind for me. And unfortunately, that's a really stick example.
Alicia Ing: So I can add on to that as
Alicia Ing: Oh, sorry.
Ally Sutherland: No, go ahead. Go ahead.
Alicia Ing: If I can add on to that. Sure. You're saying as well. I think that if we're talking about
Alicia Ing: The idea of ASB as student leadership. I think it really is needed to be acknowledged that
Alicia Ing: As be as kind of a very small specific demographic demographic of students. Like, for example, that I've seen at my school ASB is usually the most outspoken kids. It's always the honors kids are the AP or IB kids. So you're really
Alicia Ing: Asking this very small group of students to be able to represent a really diverse demographic of your student population. So, for example, like the students, who's
Alicia Ing: working multiple jobs after school, who's being asked to support their families and take care of their siblings. They're not gonna have time to go to an ASP meeting after school.
Alicia Ing: So it really isn't fair to just say that as a as a fair representation representation of your school if you're not making the conscious effort to invite voices that aren't part of that group that's being represented
Ally Sutherland: I would say a problem in our school is that we encourage certain groups to do specific things and we discourage other groups to do certain things.
Ally Sutherland: So something that I become aware of. More recently, from a ritual rally I attended
Ally Sutherland: Which for black students spoke at one of them was talking about how she was discouraged to take higher level courses and do running start
Ally Sutherland: All things that I've been encouraged to take, if anything, if I say I don't want to take this AP class.
Ally Sutherland: My counselor will tell me. No, you should take it and I've heard a lot of my other friends talk about that same situation as a always been encouraged to take these higher courses.
Ally Sutherland: And that student was just has just as many credentials as I do, you know, straight A's great student very dedicated to many different things.
Ally Sutherland: And she was discouraged. So why do we encourage certain students to do something because of what they look like. Are these preconceived ideas that we have about them.
Ally Sutherland: And discourage other students who have the same exact credentials and ability as these other students. I think there needs to be some kind of
Ally Sutherland: Training or something to tell teachers and counselors, like if a student is capable let them take the class, there should be no other factors that are played into that.
AJ Lopez: Um, I think it's kinda how like sometimes they set like like lower expectations for some students versus a higher ones like I saw during like I'm
AJ Lopez: Like, they're like, dude, like this last semester code out of see like I have a friend who's a senior and he didn't like show up to anything but he's like
AJ Lopez: He works. He works like every day for his family and just really busy and they let them, they
AJ Lopez: I saw like very few attempts to reach out to him and make sure he's doing the work, and instead they just graduated him, which is like, I'm happy graduate and everything, but
AJ Lopez: I wish it kind of like push them harder to see like a, like maybe like reach bigger dreams he had and kind of like, I think they kind of set like lower expectations for him like as the counselors and stuff. And so that was kind of hard to see but yeah
Mineva Misiaita: Like I said earlier, I've always been a part of the privilege AP students. And I've always been the higher classes her math and everything.
Mineva Misiaita: So I fortunately have experienced any marginalization in my academic world, but
Mineva Misiaita: Need to be over it, but I'm going to bring in the race because that's the only time in school that I've ever commercialized because of my ethnic group and I shared this on Friday.
Mineva Misiaita: I guess I'll show it again. But in my middle school. We had a party and then I mentioned how there was one coconut cupcake.
Mineva Misiaita: And I Pacific Islander and the teacher went by and notice that there's only one of the button her box. So then she going down for me into it. I know how you're kind of use your likes coconuts and then from that, I was like,
Mineva Misiaita: Well, I'm allergic to peanuts in this game, and she switched it out and you know for that I was the first time that
Mineva Misiaita: And instead of those first time, but that was the first time I really realized like, oh wow I'm different. I am brown like I'm, I'm not the same as everyone and that
Mineva Misiaita: The problem of why that's the first time that I realized that is because that's what teachers kind of push on to us when they marginalize you kind of marginalized everyone in the same kind of
Mineva Misiaita: We're all the same color. We don't see color kind of concept and that is a big thing in this academic world in our school because when you do that.
Mineva Misiaita: And then you kind of push that on the white people and the non white people and are people of color.
Mineva Misiaita: You make us try to see the same but then when you treat us different. You make us feel bad. Like it doesn't just make us seem like oh
Mineva Misiaita: We are we getting images feel bad for being ourselves and you know from that I really realized, Okay, I have to start changing something because my mindset. Before that, I would view my own self, I would do my own people.
Mineva Misiaita: As lesser than me, just because that's what I was always surrounded by and our school. It really they sublimity subliminally
Mineva Misiaita: For the entire mindset. So without even knowing it by putting all the colored people and the standard classes, but a majority white people in the AP and IP classes.
Mineva Misiaita: And I've noticed I most of my AP classes to as well. I think only one my classes had at least two
Mineva Misiaita: Black students. And I'm like, there's so many others that could be in this group. And I know that this class and not fall because there's like three rows of seats that could be available.
Mineva Misiaita: And I think that also goes into the equity factor on presenting resources when you don't present resources because you're already margin is a group on not being capable of taking these classes.
Mineva Misiaita: It really that messes with students mental health.
Mineva Misiaita: And how they view themselves and you know you may not think that affects them at all. But that could also be leading factor on why they're turning this stuff in late why they don't want to come to school is because they feel that personal
Mineva Misiaita: Effect that they are not enough from this marginalize concept in their mind that they can't do this.
Mineva Misiaita: And they can't pass this test, they can't be pleasing to these classes. Okay, then I must not be enough and you know I've experienced that firsthand.
Mineva Misiaita: With my own family member that she felt that she wasn't enough starts or her freshman year. It just went down the drain. Because that's how she felt in her classes and like
Mineva Misiaita: I said last Friday mirror and window kind of teaching when you don't see yourself enough in those classes, you don't see anything that reflects your experience and what you see in the daily life that really hinges on to your mindset and it makes you feel like very low self worth.
Jennifer Tran: Um, I asked to add on to one of his points about is these classes as a student, I wasn't necessarily pushed to do something that is discouraging me, however, I was I was encouraged to take AP classes and although the majority of our school our age Asians, or Pacific Islanders.
Jennifer Tran: Usually these AP classes majority of them are Asians, and there's this notion that all Chinese people are smart.
Jennifer Tran: And although that there's many people now and I realized that's not all that the stereotype is not true.
Jennifer Tran: It's I still get the subliminal message in my AP classes, especially in like AP science classes where I feel I have the feeling that I have to compete with these people. Because usually for AP classes.
Jennifer Tran: You. The reason why people will take AP classes is to get college credit or to learn more.
Jennifer Tran: And more about the subjects in a much deeper love level. But what has AP classes has become. Is it just a competition or if not, like, just for college credit instead of learning it the
Jennifer Tran: The, the actual topic itself. Well, so most. There are some students that that would take that class for that reasons, but it has becoming a culture where
Jennifer Tran: You have to take these AP classes or you're not going to get into a good college and I think it does. This is just some of the experiences that I have as a student as being pushed into do to do something at my school
Shafaq Buttar: So, in my perspective, I really haven't faced anything like so directly because me personally, I want to take AP classes because that just fits in my career path. So that's just me, but
Shafaq Buttar: One thing I've experienced is that we as students are made to like fit into the rules. Like, for example, like I had a male counselor. I just didn't feel comfortable with him, but
Shafaq Buttar: The administration would always be like you have to go to him because according to your name that you just are stuck with him.
Shafaq Buttar: And one time I really, really requested a, like a female concert and I had to wait about two hours to actually like talk with her.
Shafaq Buttar: I feel like that isn't okay because every student needs specific things and just because their name just doesn't match or
Shafaq Buttar: Just whatever it won't doesn't mean that you have to take them out of that your comfort zone because for some students like schools, the only place that they do feel comfortable at
Shafaq Buttar: And now, at this point, like I've heard and my friends don't even come to school.
Shafaq Buttar: And like see contracts are like outside. I'm like sources. Just because enough to pay for that and stuff, which it shouldn't be a trend. Like I feel like school is supposed to be a safe place, and not to actually fit in a certain rules, just because the higher people expect you to
Margarita Amezcua: Yeah.
Margarita Amezcua: It's crazy how each and every one of us could say something like, Oh, I've seen this. I've witnesses of experiences.
Margarita Amezcua: And I'm sure that can be said about every single studio in the seat like. And I think that's incredible that we are still having this discussion.
Margarita Amezcua: Um, oh oh yeah so if there was one equity related issue at your school that can be addressed fixed poof gone, what would it be. I know there is a whole list that you can say, but just one
Shreya Mehta: For me, one of the first thing that
Shreya Mehta: pops up is just access to any kind of mental health, health, so I my school we have like over 2000 kids, but we have for counselors and none of them are like the specific with designated mental health counselor, they are all college and career counselors.
Shreya Mehta: So if you have, if you are one of those people that like wants to go there because there and you just need someone to talk to, you know, chances are,
Shreya Mehta: Nothing is really going to come from that because there's going to be like sitting and like looking at their watch and it's like okay time does tend to wrap it up cuz he were so like for counselors for 2000 kids. That's a lot.
Shreya Mehta: In the problem that I see, you know, it's not just say, oh, I need someone to complain about there are students who are
Shreya Mehta: Struggling so much like I had a friend and you know you think, oh, this is only applicable to the small minority of
Shreya Mehta: Know if you have that professional at school. They can help train teachers about how to recognize something and provide that connection between out like a teacher saying
Shreya Mehta: Oh, someone was they were like just completely sobbing today. I think maybe you should get an appointment with the counselor.
Shreya Mehta: But even when you're a student suffering from a really serious mental illness. I had a friend who actually
Shreya Mehta: was hospitalized for two weeks and this one during school instead of having a person that could deal with the communication with teachers.
Shreya Mehta: They had to be the one to email every teacher and say this is what I did and I had to get there. And now I have to email you this and then sit in, zoom calls and have to look them in the eye as they like. Notice incredibly
Shreya Mehta: Heroin thing about her and there should be that no one to need to do that. And, you know, there's so many people that cannot have access to
Shreya Mehta: Therapy outside of school and it needs to be one of those things that we can provide you know it's one of the things that's becoming more and more of a thing for affluent people is getting those 504 plans, I think, you know,
Shreya Mehta: Because you know it's a VISTA parent is really involved in their students like in their kids education. They like really have the ability to, like, Oh, we're going to go see this ADHD special so timid, you're out what you need.
Shreya Mehta: But so many people don't have that and they're kind of just written off like oh no you're just like, you're just been a bad student and when a student with the second a student is led to believe that
Shreya Mehta: Oh, I did something bad or, oh, it's my fault that I can't do well at this from a young age. The second that happens. You're just going to see
Shreya Mehta: A spiraling and that's what we can't reverse when we get to high school. And that's why it's so hard to reverse so there just needs to be a kind of support from a really early age.
Ally Sutherland: Somewhere I want to see equity is at our education.
Ally Sutherland: I don't understand how it's fair for students of color to walk into a history classroom or whatever classroom, it may be, and only going to learn about their white counterparts. History
Ally Sutherland: Um, you know, at my school white students are the majority, but that doesn't mean that they're the only students that matter are the only students that you know we should appeal to
Ally Sutherland: Something that my school has always done is sugarcoat history to make it comforting for white students so they don't have to learn about the oppression about other students.
Ally Sutherland: But how is that going to make us leave our schools, educated, I feel like most of my research and, you know, understanding of history for different ethnic groups has come from watching a movie or watching a TED talk or reading a book.
Ally Sutherland: It's not fair because a lot of students when they do learn about their history, it is about their oppression, you know, slavery or, you know, the Jim Crow laws, whatever it may be.
Ally Sutherland: That's not fair for them to only learn about their oppression, because how detrimental is that to students mental health when they see oh my and my ancestor.
Ally Sutherland: My, my ancestors were just oppressed, you know, what was the good part why, you know why does my history matter.
Ally Sutherland: So when we start adding in a more worldly perspective of the world, not only will it make our students more knowledgeable and leave with a accurate perception of what history was and how other ethnic groups contributed to society, not just white Americans.
Ally Sutherland: I think that is where equity needs to be implemented and kind of adding on to it, which I was saying about mental health is, you know, not all students have it easy.
Ally Sutherland: My friend went through a really rough patch with anxiety mostly curated by school, the amount of pressure that was put on her.
Ally Sutherland: And she couldn't come to school because she was struggling so much and when she reached out to her counselor, he said.
Ally Sutherland: Just try to come to school, get your work done, you need a soundtrack instead of saying hey what's going on. How can I help you with, you know,
Ally Sutherland: What's going on in your brain and everything like she was going under so much pressure and she was still just come back and do your work. We need to be better at our schools.
AJ Lopez: Um, I definitely agree. I'm from living in a place where it's sort of a bubble and just not a lot of diversity. A equity should be first looked at and like
AJ Lopez: In teaching because it all comes from there and how, then, like I maybe like interact with other students will be if we may be taught them different. They would
AJ Lopez: Be more open minded if they knew other cultures they would think different say different things. Um, so I think it definitely just comes from
AJ Lopez: First, looking at how we're actually teaching our students and then it'll just look you'll get better from then once we fix that.
A lot
Mineva Misiaita: Agree with what everyone else said, I think it's important that we do have a requirement for cultural disability and race issues as a class because
Mineva Misiaita: I go to a predominantly white school and I never heard the N word being thrown around as any much school as much as ours.
Mineva Misiaita: And, you know, a lot of it is from our black students, but a lot of it even using a derogatory ways for non black students and I've heard a whole group of kids walk by.
Mineva Misiaita: Just talking amongst themselves about how they don't like the N words and to teachers and right by them and they did nothing. And I just find that in our schools. We need to have
Mineva Misiaita: Policies. I don't know if we do have a policy, but we need to fix enforcing it and having a stronger.
Mineva Misiaita: Regulation restrictions on that and no tolerance for that because and it ties in with a cultural perspective learning kind of class.
Mineva Misiaita: And why that should be requirement so that things like this, you know, going around the halls hearing bad things about our PCs.
Mineva Misiaita: That shouldn't be allowed and should be tolerated and when you. I feel like when you if you have a class that shows you why it's wrong. It shows you how to be open minded to all cultures and do different situations.
Mineva Misiaita: That is what would help bring it together. And I'm not talking about just racial slurs. I'm talking about like LGBT Q
Mineva Misiaita: religious, cultural, I'm talking about all kinds of SLURS LIKE THAT.
Mineva Misiaita: I need awareness on all kinds of aspects, so that our future generations don't grow up with that kind of mindset because when they do do that then you grow up with racist doctors or self righteous lawyers that will
Mineva Misiaita: Let you call it, defend someone, someone that obviously did something very bad and what you call it, these things start when we're young. And when our schools tolerate that.
Mineva Misiaita: That creates a mindset into those kids head. Oh, this is okay.
Mineva Misiaita: Yeah. Nothing's wrong with what I'm doing. And that's why I think it's very important, just on how they push health and art classes as a two year and one year credit requirement for our class. Why don't we
Mineva Misiaita: Implement a diversity and diversity for all aspects groups, people kind of class because we need to gather that mindset that there's only one group of people
Mineva Misiaita: straight white kind of males or that they're the superior and that they're who we should follow. And I think the the big issue on that with me is I hate
Mineva Misiaita: When I walked by that and I feel like if I speak out about a my school. I'm just going to get hit on it hated on it because my score you tolerant and not feel. I do not want any of our younger Casa
Mineva Misiaita: To feel that way they should be exposed and have the eyes open that everyone is different. We're not all the same, you know, if we're all the same.
Mineva Misiaita: I wouldn't have to experience racism through being denied bathroom access and Buckley, and you have to experience it through. To Kill a Mockingbird.
Mineva Misiaita: We're not all the same. And I think that it really needs to be implemented into especially our high school because that's when our Monta most valuable.
Mineva Misiaita: Into our high school curriculum that everyone is different. And you need to realize that and realize that we don't need you to walk on eggshells
Mineva Misiaita: But maybe applicant skating on thin ice because everyone has a breaking point. So you don't want to push past everyone's breaking point for that. And I think our schools curriculum could really do a way better job than they are right now.
Jennifer Tran: I also agree with everyone what they say about these issues.
Jennifer Tran: Are school in particular has the benefits of being racially diverse, meaning that we have
Jennifer Tran: We have clubs that celebrates different cultures and we and even majority of our teachers and our schools are not cooked or non Caucasian
Jennifer Tran: Is one in particular issue that we have where our school is connecting with our school board members and teachers and students. And the reason why I brought it up is because I've been one example is that during
Jennifer Tran: The, the killing of George Floyd, there was a Black Student Union does trying to send a letter to the school board meeting about how we should take action.
Jennifer Tran: And they reply with this very general email saying how they they support the Black Student Union and they're going to take their you're going to take these into consideration and what he's consideration that
Jennifer Tran: The Blackstone union wanted to wanted for school board to do is to cut ties with police and this could go on and on. But, in summary, that's a one of the things that he wanted to do.
Jennifer Tran: And so far, they've never followed up after that email that the school board has sense. And that's a very nuts. I think that's one of the reasons why that
Jennifer Tran: Me and chiffon wanted to start that started this project where we try to
Jennifer Tran: Make can make connections and building bridges between students and stuffs in school board members because a lot of the issues that that our school our
Jennifer Tran: School Board member has is that their responses to certain top topics or issues tended to be very vague and
Jennifer Tran: And for students and stuff. I think especially during this pandemic. I think it's so vital the especially, especially when we're going back to school that we need. We need communication. And if we don't get
Jennifer Tran: It and even though it is just saying, hey, we were still working on discern issue.
Jennifer Tran: But still, it can be, I think, constant communication is very important, especially when all students and the staffs have to are been forced to
Jennifer Tran: do their work at home and and even more especially for students who don't have the who don't have the privilege to have access to good internet or
Jennifer Tran: Good, good. Computers good laptops and they are some students have to use their phones because they don't have laptops or computers. So I think
Jennifer Tran: The one essential. I think one essential issue that we have in our school particular is just this this gap between students and staff and our administration. I think that's something that our school needs to work on.
Shafaq Buttar: I feel like our school has to work on mental health, a lot like
Shafaq Buttar: In my perspective feel like our school is really focus on getting as many honors and as many AP classes and and that is a lot at one point, my country. So to take three AP classes.
Shafaq Buttar: That was a lot for me personally, and a lot of kids and not even myself or like struggling with other things outside of school such as depression or like family problems and all that.
Shafaq Buttar: And on top of that they're overloading with us is and our counseling or mostly on okay like running store AP classes, but they whenever you talk about them about your mental health, they'll be like,
Shafaq Buttar: Okay, go see another counselor. I personally feel like a lot of people in our school particularly are
Shafaq Buttar: More focused on redirecting and all that things and sometimes we just need like our own like like I had like an English teacher who was really good.
Shafaq Buttar: And other kids like just had a particular teacher, but they still weren't helpful and
Shafaq Buttar: Apart from mental health. I feel like teachers also have like a subconscious thing about colored students
Shafaq Buttar: Like I took an American politics class and there were saying that teachers have something called implicit biased like they'll feel like kids with brown eyes would be more I'm
Shafaq Buttar: Wanting to take help instead of blue eyes like blue eyed kids will be more willing to go out for recess, more often, whereas brown eyes, kids. They'll be like, Oh, do you need help. Do you need help. And that's something I feel like has just been ingrained in his like history and
Shafaq Buttar: From what I studied about that is that we need to really be more open about education and not make it be so whitewash because at the end of the day, kids are facing this
Shafaq Buttar: Discrimination, just because on the color of the skin or eyes and that should I really like we have to change that, like, be more
Shafaq Buttar: Open about how our education is and history is a not just make it. Oh, whites are more
Shafaq Buttar: Privileged or higher up and yeah
Alicia Ing: So from a my personal opinion. I think that if we're talking about curriculum. We're talking about
Alicia Ing: The education system. It's not only how we're teaching our students, but it's also what we're teaching our students.
Alicia Ing: So in my personal experience I have had the privilege and like I consider this to be one of the greatest privileges of my education so far is that
Alicia Ing: I have been able to look around a classroom and I have seen students who don't look like me and I've seen students would look like me.
Alicia Ing: I've never felt out of place in a classroom and I know that that's not an experience that's shared by many students and not many people could say the same thing.
Alicia Ing: I just remember the statistics. So I just looked it up my high school graduate high school is the 45th most diverse High School in the entire country and
Alicia Ing: 11 of those 45 countries of the most. I mean, sorry 11 of the 45 most diverse high schools in the United States of America come from the state of Washington.
Alicia Ing: So we really need to be set an example on the sort of curriculum that we're offering our students because
Alicia Ing: I completely agree that ethnic studies needs to be implemented as a class, but it shouldn't just be that one class that's a requirement and then a box to check and then
Alicia Ing: Our education is somehow preparing our students. I think that's absolutely wrong. I believe that this sort of curriculum needs to be implemented in all of our classes and something we noted earlier, that we said
Alicia Ing: Was that in my personal experience in my education. My teacher. I remember really clearly in my sophomore year in my English class, she said that our books and our
Alicia Ing: What we're reading should be used as a mirror and a window. So we should be able to see our own experiences and the curriculum that we're learning, but is
Alicia Ing: It should also be a window into someone else's experience that we would never be able to experience. So I was able to read stories that told the lady next story, the
Alicia Ing: African American story, the Asian story. You know those sort of narratives. And I think that's something that needs to be replicated in different classes and different curriculums.
Alicia Ing: Another thing is that even though I go to an extremely diverse high school I think counting the number of students.
Alicia Ing: I'm sorry, I could count the number of teachers that I've had that I've had that are VOC on a single hand. Most of my teachers that I've had since growing up were all white. And although you can have teachers that are progressive and you can have students who
Alicia Ing: Are appreciative of these efforts that these teachers are making. It's not the same as knowing the experiences of your students. So I think that racial equity training for staff and for teachers should be mandatory.
Alicia Ing: And I think that students should have a say in what goes into this curriculum as well because there's so many different micro aggressions that could be perpetrated by these teachers that they wouldn't even be aware of.
Alicia Ing: And teacher teachers need people to listen to their students to know that they're giving them the best education possible because there's so many other factors that could go into
Alicia Ing: How well a student receives material, how well they learn that really isn't talked about enough
Alicia Ing: Especially in today's day and age. So if we're trying to really prepare students for this like globalized or like modern education that we want to be, you know, on the front lines of we need to be taking these things into account.
Margarita Amezcua: Yeah, thank you guys. I think the top two things about everyone was saying was that
Margarita Amezcua: Representation and mental health. That's something that matters to most all students that if you see yourself.
Shreya Mehta: As
Margarita Amezcua: Well, I just heard. Oh, sorry. Do you see yourself.
Margarita Amezcua: Means that you're being tight. It gives you the tools to be assertive to see yourself as
Margarita Amezcua: Strong to be able to use your voice like we don't have the tools to do that. We don't see we just see yourself being
Margarita Amezcua: Colonized like that's all you see. So I think that's really important to know
Margarita Amezcua: Just a note to audience members and panelists and board members will move into audience questions in about 10 minutes but just one more question and then we'll move into those. Okay, so feel free to comment them and we'll be answering those
Margarita Amezcua: So for all the inequities that you have seen in your school has there. I know some of you touched on this a little bit that you haven't, but
Margarita Amezcua: Have you seen any sort of protocol any sort of policy that kind of that takes place. If you see any sort of micro aggression either subtle or like very out there, racism, any sort of consequences if you guys ever seen or anything like that.
Shreya Mehta: Yeah, so
Shreya Mehta: I school. I just say we're so behind you know I think a lot of District Board members can kind of just pull out their little sheet and be like, we have it written right here that nobody's allowed to be racist, guys.
Shreya Mehta: That's it problem solve. And that's the full extent of everything my school actually had this situation.
Shreya Mehta: Where this girl. She was white and she there was this video of her bullying, a black student from another school and repeatedly calling her the N word, and this was circulated all around her school
Shreya Mehta: But it was kind of right before school started, so there was no actual intervention by our school and
Shreya Mehta: You know what strikes me even more is the fact that there was no repercussion or no big school conversation on an assembly at like, hey, this is not acceptable. This is not acceptable. We need to teach you why this is wrong because something has failed.
Shreya Mehta: And you know later on as the school year progressed. It was like fall. And it was like Homecoming season and this particular girl actually got
Shreya Mehta: Nominated for homecoming princess or something like that. And we had this conversation. Like, I came up to my ISP advisor. And I'm like, do you really think it's appropriate. This she repeatedly said this slur.
Shreya Mehta: To this poor girl who had literally done nothing wrong and nothing has happened it's you haven't even had a conversation with her about if it's acceptable.
Shreya Mehta: Or like how it's unacceptable and then are the administration decided. No, it's okay. You know, it was like right before school started so it's not really our problem. So she won Homecoming princess.
Shreya Mehta: And that's what we put forth. It is okay. If you say this, there will be no repercussions. And I think that is just a terrible example the set, everyone was just wow
Shreya Mehta: You know, it can't just be oh this happened like two days before school started yet. We don't have to worry about it. It's not our fault. It's not something we've not solve this ingrained problem in our community.
Shreya Mehta: So I think it's important that we keep people accountable, because at the time.
Shreya Mehta: You know, I think when you're a student and or when you're an underclassman especially if you bring something up to that teacher. And they're like, yeah, no. And then it's just like, Okay, I just have to shy away. It's not my place. They don't want me here. Mm hmm. So that's why
Ally Sutherland: I would say the only protocol. I've seen at my schools is ignoring the
Ally Sutherland: Problem, because you know it's the easy thing to do, or they say, oh, they're just kids you know they don't know any better, but
Ally Sutherland: Those are the kids that are going to school and learning while there's other students coming to school being traumatized and mocked.
Ally Sutherland: So what line, do we draw and it shouldn't even be, what do we do in case this happens, it shouldn't happen at all, because why should students go to school and hear a racial slur and then have that directed towards them.
Ally Sutherland: When I was younger.
Ally Sutherland: I talked about this last time, but my grandmother's Korean and she came to my school for a science fair or something like that and
Ally Sutherland: A group of girls and boys would pull their eyes back and mock Asian people and at the time I was unaware of what that really meant, but I knew it was wrong and
Ally Sutherland: I talked. One of my best friends Asian and she talks about how because she went to the same elementary school as me and she talks about how alienated. She felt
Ally Sutherland: And how bad she felt, going to school and feeling like, wow, I don't look like these people. I'm Mark, I'm just a joke.
Ally Sutherland: And what a teachers do about it. Nothing. And it was so apparent that it was happening. It was almost a trend to these kids and teachers did nothing about it. So why are we allowing students to go to school and be traumatized.
Ally Sutherland: It should just be protocol and the first day of school. Just like how you say
Ally Sutherland: Hey kids, don't run in the hallway, it should be. You can't say these words, you can't make fun of people's lunches. You can't do this or that.
Ally Sutherland: And then make sure it doesn't happen and when it does happen actually
Ally Sutherland: Have there be repercussions for those students so people know this isn't something okay to do because you still see it in high school today, you'll hear kids walking in the hallway saying all types of slurs.
Ally Sutherland: And it's normalized and teachers don't do anything about it because it's out of their reach. Or like, what should I said, my hands are tied
Ally Sutherland: You know, like, I can't do anything about it, but you really can. You don't want your students going to school traumatized because that is what's happening right now.
AJ Lopez: Um, so I have like so like an eighth grade. Are we are in our history class we're doing like a culture study so
AJ Lopez: Everyone was telling about their cultures and you made like a booklet and everything. And so I chose my, my dad side and
AJ Lopez: So I had some, like, because he's Mexican American I had like pictures of him on like or not him. But like our family on Chile farms and all of this. And of course, because it's predominantly white
AJ Lopez: Mine was very different compared to the rest of the class. So my teacher who is also like um she tried she she like reprimanded me saying like my
AJ Lopez: My booklet was like she even said it was like racist or something. And so she is trying to tell me what was appropriate.
AJ Lopez: For my culture when she's not from my culture to the point where like my data to go in and let it be like
AJ Lopez: Yeah, that is my culture that's our culture is just crazy. And what's ironic is that she was not only my history teacher, but my leadership teacher so that says that kind of
AJ Lopez: It's just a lot like that's kind of scary if that's who our leadership teachers or whatever. And yeah, that's just the story I have, I want to share
Mineva Misiaita: I feel like I have
Mineva Misiaita: Mostly talk about inequities in the beginning. Questions like, when we hear, I know I've heard a lot of the non black kids using the N words to be derogatory against not even just buckets, even
Mineva Misiaita: Grouping the rest of our color students. Students of color into that and then walking by teachers and doing it. And so I think the thing with Allie. It's a big
Mineva Misiaita: Problem Solver is just to ignore the problem and I know the only time that they ever really are sensitive is when we are enrolled MLK assembly.
Mineva Misiaita: And we kind of move on. It's like okay this is this is racism dies and am ok solved it. So, don't, don't go starting something up again.
Mineva Misiaita: And then the rest of the year. It's, it's okay it's tolerated.
Mineva Misiaita: And that's why I feel like the big thing is having that curriculum of the window mirror is so important because you need to know.
Mineva Misiaita: You can tell these kids, why they're wrong all the time, but nobody's going to care. And that's why it's important for our younger ones to grow up knowing why you're wrong about that knowing why you can't say that.
Mineva Misiaita: And those are like the big inequities. I've seen it's just the racial problems in my very predominantly white school
Mineva Misiaita: And ignoring the problem. I don't know if we do have policies by know damn well they're not enforced at all.
Mineva Misiaita: And I think the big issue is my school is tolerance for slurs and not just talk about racial stereotypes about every even against especially against the LGBT community related slurs. You know, I see kids.
Mineva Misiaita: Our school has had seen commit suicide. And the only thing that happened was we are sorry for the family. But why don't you go into depth. Why don't you have an assembly on that. Why don't you
Mineva Misiaita: Help us understand will help those who don't understand why it's wrong to bully. Why are you trying to bully off of a choice.
Mineva Misiaita: For viewer sexual orientation off of virtue identify as off of what you can control your skin color, and it's those tolerant things that are my school let slide that I feel it really
Mineva Misiaita: When you know that it's okay, you're going to grow up, you're going to be some successful person. But that same mindset, they had in high school, and that is going to damage so many people and are so he realized
Mineva Misiaita: You may not be our parents, but you are. You're our guardians while we're in your school while we're on online. So you need to be dictating in regulating what we say what people say about us because
Mineva Misiaita: I know a lot of our teachers are white as well. So when they hear those stuff. It's not affecting them. They don't care.
Mineva Misiaita: But I walked by and I hear that I may not be blocked by insurance have offends me. I do think that there's a problem with it, just because it doesn't affect me directly, doesn't mean it's not gonna affect
Mineva Misiaita: My me and my path. Later on, like this mindset that our kids have died. It's okay. It needs to be canceled. Our school. We can't tolerate it anymore. And I think that's the biggest and equity is our tolerance for
Mineva Misiaita: Just
Mineva Misiaita: Inequality in our school like stop letting it slide if you hear someone say something that's very braces are
Mineva Misiaita: Very against that marginalized group, you need to speak out about it. Students can only do so much. Of course we can start fights for you to come and stop us. But it's not going to change anything because you guys let it slide.
Jennifer Tran: I'm going to go a little bit off topic and from the question, but never been a really good point about the Martin Luther King
Jennifer Tran: Assembly, I think, on my, I think my experience with staying Dr. King is that in our school. We have all we did, we study a little bit more in depth compared to other schools, it's still still that's
Jennifer Tran: That's a whitewash education where we praise. We pray civic leaders or other people who does these amazing things as
Jennifer Tran: Gods and we put them on a pedestal. However, like at the same time we also demanded diminish diminish. These people or characters assassinate these people because they did this one thing and
Jennifer Tran: I think something that our school needs to do better is to
Jennifer Tran: Acknowledge the good site and bad side of history, instead of telling one side of the story. They should also tell different sides of stories, not just only Caucasian history, but also if they should invest in stay more about Asian history.
Jennifer Tran: But what's he next to history black history, all, all these things are very important, because that's what also make America, not just Caucasian stats.
Jennifer Tran: That are that are on this land there, and also Native American history are also really important, I think, on a topic of micro aggression.
Jennifer Tran: Our school has the privilege to not I think being doing a good job at calling out people whenever
Jennifer Tran: Students or us or teachers say like racist things as I think we we we do a very good job at holding each other accountable to make sure we
Jennifer Tran: Don't we don't be racist or we don't have our don't say sexist things. But I think a particular problem that we have in our school is that there is one instances where
Jennifer Tran: A student said the backward. I mean, the N word, excuse me, and, and as a result the school has suspend him.
Jennifer Tran: And even though they made these policies. So to prevent students from saying the N word I still see people in my school that's still say the N word and even
Jennifer Tran: In one instance, I even heard a student saying and word while the teacher is
Jennifer Tran: Is doing something. And the teacher didn't do anything at all. So it's going back to Mina of his points, which is that we have to help hold each other accountable, even though
Jennifer Tran: That it feels uncomfortable to do we, we, if we want to prevent us from these type of things way from happening. We have to hold each other accountable and accountability is really, really important if we wanted to end the use of it. If we wanted to confront racism or sexism in our education.
Shafaq Buttar: And my perspective, I feel like our school just does not take action at all. Like, for example, when there was a topic about police brutality. Right. Um,
Shafaq Buttar: And the school board would just be like, Okay, we'll just post something on Instagram or something. But to be honest, the way I saw it as that they just want people to feel better about what's going on, but not actually do something like like
Shafaq Buttar: Like, forget about race, like when it even comes to like kids being mean to each other. We just be like, Okay, we'll send you to the office, but again, they'll do the same thing again. I'm
Shafaq Buttar: Like I've been working closely with a school district and I've seen that they really don't take option to what kids want
Shafaq Buttar: And they'll just like carry on the topic, just like carry carry it on
Shafaq Buttar: And we've been having so many assemblies about like rules and regulations and kids just don't listen, but I feel like the main reason is just, it's not being incorporated into the education system like coming back into the whitewash they'll be like even history is so I'm
Shafaq Buttar: Like Caucasian washed at the same time and
Shafaq Buttar: I just really don't know like our school just can't bring themselves together. I just feel like our school district is mostly about all talk no show just to make people feel welcome, but that's not, it's not working at all.
Alicia Ing: Yeah, I completely agree with the whole
Alicia Ing: All talk no show thing that's definitely been something that I've seen a high schools. Um, I think that in my personal experience. So like I said my school is like extremely diverse and it's most diverse in our school districts
Alicia Ing: Something that comes with that is my school is always labeled the ghetto school or
Alicia Ing: It's the school that you like you. I'm sure you guys know what I mean, like, there's always that one school that's considered more, you know, like, the higher the population of
Alicia Ing: Students of color than it's seen as, oh, they have more fights and they have this and that. So I think that in itself is just a really harmful stereotype that comes with my school
Alicia Ing: And I think that's something we also haven't touched on yet is gun violence in schools. So in my personal experience that I've seen. So the week that we
Alicia Ing: Was the last week of our school for this past school year in March.
Alicia Ing: There was one day where there was a man with a gun that came two blocks away from our school and our school had to go
Alicia Ing: Into lockdown for about two hours and during that time I was stuck in a back closet with like a group of my classmates and we were all calling our parents and stuff but
Alicia Ing: Did our administration come out and say anything after that about the event know
Alicia Ing: And even worse was a couple of years ago, there was one incident where there was a post that went around social media where someone was
Alicia Ing: Someone who wasn't a student, but they were a teenager that went to different schools in the area they were threatening to shoot up my school and that went around on social media.
Alicia Ing: So what happened was the student leaders at my school so ASB officers and then some like club leaders they started
Alicia Ing: passing around this information to students at our school to warn them to make sure that they knew what was going on right
Alicia Ing: But when the administration found out about this. They penalize those students who are passing around and information because they said they were scaring the students so
Alicia Ing: It's just, it's just a sample of what goes on in not only my school which really should be the you know the progressive school because we're diverse, but really that's not the case.
Alicia Ing: This is really just a fraction of what goes on the schools that the administration really needs to work on because
Alicia Ing: After this incident that happened with half of our students not showing up to school because they were scared for their lives.
Alicia Ing: All that happened was our principal came on the intercom gave like a little 32nd speech about student safety and how we're going to protect our students and then gave everyone pizza.
Alicia Ing: You're not exaggerating. That is exactly what happened. So it's things like this that really create this trust in the relationship between your students and
Alicia Ing: Your administration. And if you're really penalizing your student leadership for wanting to protect their student body.
Alicia Ing: Then I think that there is a serious issue that needs to be addressed with not only my school but with schools in our area in our state in our country and there needs to be some work to mend this relationship and the distrust that students have with administration.
Margarita Amezcua: Oh,
Margarita Amezcua: Gun Violence school safety, that would be a whole nother panel.
Margarita Amezcua: Thank you, Lisa for that we're going to move into the audience questions now so audience will three board members to comment them.
Margarita Amezcua: But one thing we're the first question that came up was on ethnic studies. So we at least you brought up the window mirror type thing that you brought up earlier.
Margarita Amezcua: That's super important. So, what's something that you guys think you would want to see in as excludes class. How would it when you picture it as who would teach you what do you
Margarita Amezcua: Because I know we talked about it earlier. Like it's it's a whole nother tool that you can have you see yourself being represented as strong like human instead of
Margarita Amezcua: Oppressed you know that's a whole different thing. So what do you guys see how you imagined that how do you think it would be, what's your take on that.
Shreya Mehta: Yeah, I'm so glad Scott brought up.
Shreya Mehta: For any like policymakers, always. Yeah, listen, you know, it is so important that it starts K through 12 this needs to be an ongoing journey, you know, ethnic studies.
Shreya Mehta: And also just having really inclusive diverse curriculum. I know when I was in third grade. That's when we like I'm
Shreya Mehta: Terrible at the time. And so I was like young and I was like, Oh, these like I had this misconception. I was like, oh, gay marriage or like gay people started existing like two years ago so
Shreya Mehta: That's why they made this legal now we And ever since that we have covered know LGBT Q history.
Shreya Mehta: Ever and the fact that you think that oh, because I'm never seeing because we're never setting like a Latina x scientist or activists, because we're never studying. They just don't exist because we're in my case it's kind of like, oh, the only Indian figure we were
Shreya Mehta: Gone. And the thing is,
Shreya Mehta: That is
Shreya Mehta: That you
Shreya Mehta: Should have had the opportunity to know. So it's so young and when you don't hear anything.
Shreya Mehta: Here all do this.
Shreya Mehta: When you don't hear anything. You just think that it's not important. I personally don't feel like it's that employee.
Margarita Amezcua: Sure.
Margarita Amezcua: Did you
Margarita Amezcua: Choose okay
Margarita Amezcua: Try turning off your video loving connection problems and it'll help with the
Shreya Mehta: Okay, so, you know, it's, I'm sorry.
Shreya Mehta: You know, you think that because you're not seeing anyone. It's just not important, and to even encourage like oh, we need more Asian teachers to teach this ethnic studies you know that's not going to happen right now.
Shreya Mehta: Teachers of color are not being treated very well either. And how are you going to encourage students to go into a profession where they never see themselves represented in the education.
Shreya Mehta: It's just, it needs to start from a really young age, because it's all about, you know, we're all the everyone's goal in school is just to make sure
Shreya Mehta: That students can be well functioning members of society and you cannot do that. If you can't appreciate other people's cultures and identities. So it needs to start really young.
Shreya Mehta: To end, it needs to, because when it doesn't start young, it's just like, oh, I'm just going to tune out in high school, there's no chance of changing their my beliefs by now.
Shreya Mehta: My parents have been telling me this for XYZ years. So it's a massive failure when there. So when racism is still a problem.
Shreya Mehta: Goals and
Shreya Mehta: Reach
Ally Sutherland: I 100% agree with what you just said about starting young and
Ally Sutherland: Implementing ethnic studies at a younger age. And maybe that doesn't have to be.
Ally Sutherland: So such an advanced course or anything, but that could just be adding in representation in the books that you know students read or watching
Ally Sutherland: movies that have more representation, because if you leave it until high school. The sad fact is that it's going to turn into a debate because the students already have
Ally Sutherland: You know their ideas about different cultures and ethnicities and groups and it's going to be hard for you to change their minds. I saw this video on students
Ally Sutherland: Debating on whether the Confederate flag was racist or not in high school. And it was a giant debate.
Ally Sutherland: So, you know, little kids are so impressionable. And if you teach them from a young age that racism isn't okay, hey, this isn't okay, this isn't okay you should do this, you shouldn't do that. They're gonna
Ally Sutherland: Like soak that up and keep that with them and hopefully they could even take that home to their family and it could just pass on, but we need that in our education. And so it can't just be
Ally Sutherland: You know, in high school, where we have one credit where you go to an ethnic studies class for half half a semester but it needs to be.
Ally Sutherland: All throughout different grades and it should definitely touch on the beauty of other cultures how they've contributed to society.
Ally Sutherland: Because a lot of students are clueless. Like I know students that have said, I thought, America was the only country with freedom.
Ally Sutherland: Like is that the education that we're getting in our schools because that's definitely not enough. Our students are not leaving our schools educated and
Ally Sutherland: They're going to go into the real world and not know enough and so that needs to be a priority in our schools and it needs to be an ongoing conversation.
Margarita Amezcua: I want to jump in really quick.
Margarita Amezcua: You want to touch on something, Allie said, I think the most important thing is to give like a well rounded thing and all the great things other coaches have
Margarita Amezcua: Because a lot of the things you see like all you see from Mexico is the other little miracles, David. That's all you see
Margarita Amezcua: It's also compartmentalize. It's not like, oh, they're a part of this. It's not integrated. So, this is this. This is like, it's that I think that was really important to highlight. Thank you. Alley.
AJ Lopez: Well, I would like
AJ Lopez: To see would definitely just be making sure that they touch on every culture like as many as they can because
AJ Lopez: It would be like even worse if like they touch on like everyone by your culture. You just feel more excluded. So, just making sure that they can touch on all the ones like
AJ Lopez: That they can. And then also, like if you don't see like a lot of PLC teachers and then like they want to like try to like implement like teachings from a person of color than maybe like getting leaders from the community, you know, leaders from different communities.
AJ Lopez: To come in and talk as like a special guests, because I think that could definitely be effective.
Mineva Misiaita: I think
Mineva Misiaita: A lot basically whatever alley and Margarita said was what I was gonna say
Mineva Misiaita: I think bringing in. If you're not going to bring in every subculture that at least try to bring the culture that affected America because I know the road that I went on, just right now like an hour ago, two hours ago isn't what
Mineva Misiaita: isn't the only thing isn't what are white Americans do today. I know dang well I five is not built by all the white working middle class citizens. Right now it's like we need to know
Mineva Misiaita: that America was not built on just our white Americans. You know why we learn about food historic science we learned about all the. Gotcha. Oh god, drove
Mineva Misiaita: Einstein, but we don't know about Robert smalls or Percy Julian and I just think it's important on bringing in different aspects, stop.
Mineva Misiaita: Basically repeal every everyone said stop with the Eurocentric based history. Stop whitewashing a, you know, it wasn't just like people who want our wars go on our Revolutionary War civil wars, you know,
Mineva Misiaita: You're forgetting very critical aspects are Native Americans that are first nations are black citizens and it's just it's disheartening in
Mineva Misiaita: It really, like I said, it really affects your mindset when you see all these Harrison chick based history like oh
Mineva Misiaita: So we're, we're, we're making more so we didn't help at all. But if you look, you know, dang like your culture helped out with everything.
Mineva Misiaita: And I think that's such a problem is that I had to learn everything that I know I learned more about Diversity and Equity equality in the last four months when school is cancelled, rather than in school, because all I learned in school was that
Mineva Misiaita: Europeans came over here. Yeah, we didn't steal we call a nice. Okay. And it's like I'm please bring in different aspects stop making it seem like we just make this place better because they're all Campbell isms or there are sacrificing it's like
Mineva Misiaita: Just because the cultures, different doesn't mean it them civilized just because you phrase actions the different word doesn't mean it's not bad. And I think that's a one side, a one.
Mineva Misiaita: One way history when you only see one person. Our, our white population helping out, you know, it made me feel at least like oh so what we're doing like eating coconut on the island or something.
Mineva Misiaita: And especially with our school in that incident of mine, it really damages your self worth, and it makes you see your own people as a lesser
Mineva Misiaita: So when you see more representation into our curriculum, you know, maybe that's when I'll stop guessing on all our history, cuz right now, ain't it, he
Jennifer Tran: I think that going back to what everyone said, I think this is why it's so important to implement ethnic studies from K
Jennifer Tran: K to 12 is because that you can, I think, for one semester of ethnic studies or one semester civics, you can only teach so much about what's going on in the world and
Jennifer Tran: In for one semester of ethnic studies, there's not really that much to talk about other than just the general gist of what's going on for each culture.
Jennifer Tran: And for one semester you can't talk about every single culture because that's going to take a really long time.
Jennifer Tran: So that's why it's very, very important that we start we start young to to educate students about different types of culture and like. AJ said to have different people from different cultures to come in to show examples of different types of cultures and that's my take on it.
Shafaq Buttar: So yeah, I obviously agree with that, we need more different cultures and ethnic studies, but I also want to make a point that, like, we also have to have an ethnic like
Shafaq Buttar: So, so in my school we have all of our at least 99% of our teachers are white. And I feel like we have to be able to incorporate more
Shafaq Buttar: Cultural diverse like teachers in our background I'm to be able to actually teach them because I'm because if we don't have people who are actually ethnic they're not gonna be able to have a great take on it if you guys know what I mean. Well, that's what I would want to point out
Alicia Ing: So,
Alicia Ing: I what I wanted to say is I think this is a really, really important point to make that an ethnic studies class we're implementing ethnic studies and a curriculum.
Alicia Ing: Isn't the purpose of it isn't to affirm the experiences of PLC. It's not
Alicia Ing: To like make PLC students feel better or that their experiences are in our education. Absolutely not. I think that the purpose of an ethnic studies class or exercise course.
Alicia Ing: Is to provide everyone regardless of what you look like a where you come from for this.
Alicia Ing: modernized society in this globalized world that are our teachers want to emphasize to us and I think that just saying that
Alicia Ing: The purpose of ethics is classes, just to make PLC students feel like they're included is kind of missing the point.
Alicia Ing: And I wanted to also address a question that I saw earlier about, do you think it'd be challenging to teach ethnic studies to white students, I think.
Alicia Ing: The point that that's even a question is just emphasizing the issue here that
Alicia Ing: If you are a white student and you are uncomfortable with being taught ethnic studies. I think that that's just an display of like privilege, because
Alicia Ing: There's one quote that I saw on a post on social media, a while ago that says
Alicia Ing: White Privilege is your history being taught as a required course and mind being taught as an elective i think that that as a quote in itself just goes to show exactly what we're talking about.
Alicia Ing: And I think that taking ethnic studies and making it this sort of checkmark requirement is just doing a disservice to why it exists in the first place. And another thing I wanted to address was. There was another question in the chat about intergenerational
Alicia Ing: Intergenerational working together to kind of advocate for these sorts of things. And I just wanted to say that as a first generation American myself. Neither my parents were born in this country. They both immigrated here.
Alicia Ing: Because of genocide and because of things that were going on in our home country that
Alicia Ing: Our generation has more first generation students more children of immigrants than any generation or our country before
Alicia Ing: And I think that if we don't take advantage of this and take advantage of the experiences that we have as individuals and that we share it together, then it's a complete missed opportunity.
Alicia Ing: To kind of reinvent our education system and the way that it goes because
Alicia Ing: It doesn't just get better when you get to college because like I'm going to the University of Washington, which is a university that prides itself on diversity.
Alicia Ing: We are required to write an essay on diversity, if we are to be accepted into the school.
Alicia Ing: But the there's only a to credit requirement for a diversity course at U. Dub AND THAT IS LITERALLY LESS THAN SINGLE class. So I just wanted to say that although we're focusing on K through 12 it literally doesn't get better just because you go to college.
Alicia Ing: And this is a conversation that needs to be held with education from K through you know your doctorate degrees, that's what you want to do, because it's such a structural and
Alicia Ing: Issue. That's just institutionalize to the point where people don't even see that it exists. And that's what I wanted to add to the conversation.
Mineva Misiaita: Out on to everything you just said, um, you know, in my school in my school years we had an issue where
Mineva Misiaita: The PhDs in our, in our class wanted to experience and indigenous day we wanted to like try out and I will try it. But like know more about the culture.
Mineva Misiaita: But our teacher said no, because that would be effective or uncomfortable, but then unlimited worse was do that. We had a collab celebration and she she saying how that would make more people feel comfortable just because it's more normalized. I'm like,
Mineva Misiaita: Who did you ask cuz I know you a lot in ASK, FIRST NATIONS sitting right next to you. And that's the kind of thing that it's so toxic and our mindsets, like when Elisa saying how
Mineva Misiaita: You make if Titian by students are going to be comfortable in big cities to Fred quaint. To be quite frank, I don't really care about your country now because
Mineva Misiaita: This my whole experience. Do you think I even had an ounce of learning about my culture. No, it was always about. Sure. So if you can't feel comfortable learning about different
Mineva Misiaita: Than that's your problem. You can drop the class. It's all right. But if it's a requirement, you know,
Mineva Misiaita: Deal with it. Because all of my classes they have been a requirement, where I had to be forced to push down my own culture and get this white superior in my head.
Mineva Misiaita: And I just think that's such an issue with our students like, why are you focusing because when you're talking about comfort, who's come for. Are you talking about
Mineva Misiaita: Because I know you're not just discrediting the whole people of colors students in our school and talk about white comfort as if
Mineva Misiaita: That's not what you did all 12 years of education life. And so when people ask that question. It's not going to be uncomfortable for your white classmates in an ethnic studies.
Mineva Misiaita: bumped your feelings. I don't care because you need to learn it was not why people who built this whole country. It was not your granddaddy who built the roads that I'm driving on that you guys need to know that.
Mineva Misiaita: This country is very diverse. It was built on very much diverse and it needs to be set straight
Margarita Amezcua: Yes.
Margarita Amezcua: Well, it was not already clear to everyone. I think students now are ready, ready for change. And in fact, we think it's long overdue.
Margarita Amezcua: I'm real equity saves lives. And it's not just a fad at this point. So, so you can just hop on so please share audience members share this recording everywhere. Tell your friends to watch to listen to understand not listened to respond.
Margarita Amezcua: Yes. Have a lovely rest of your day. Thank you, panelists, you did great. I'm sure everyone was very grateful to hear your voices.
Margarita Amezcua: Thank you everyone. Have a good day.
Ally Sutherland: Thank you.
Mineva Misiaita: Thank you.
Alicia Ing: Bye, thank you everyone. You guys are amazing.