By Deziree Garrick An opportunity gap can be described as a lack of equitable opportunities and resources relating to education. Factors like your race and zip code play a role in the amount of opportunities and resources you have access to. Rochester’s youth has been and continues to be denied access to viable opportunities, and it is mostly due to systemic oppression. Mrs. Delehanty of the TLI department, explains how the gap affected Rochester’s students. She says, “A very clear example is right now during the pandemic, where in all of the surrounding suburbs those students have the opportunity if they chose to participate in hybrid learning or remote learning. Whereas that option has never been given a chance in the RCSD.” As a student of the RCSD, I can tell you that students were and are offended by the lack of choices given to us. “Some students aren’t even aware of what they are missing out on and I often see students pity themselves, and subconsciously start thinking they aren’t as good as their suburban counterparts,” answered Mrs. Delehanty when asked about the hidden effects of the “gap.” Mrs. Delehanty went on to say that “the border between the RCSD and the Penfield school district is the most segregated school district border in the country! And that gap would be even larger if it [the RCSD] was with Pittsford, NY, which is the most affluent suburb in our area.” That statement was new knowledge to me, but did not surprise me. As a high school student in an urban district you often compare yourself to suburban districts and there students, and you wonder why they have great academic programs and top notch sports facilitates. And to know that the only reason they are “better” than you is because of systemic racism is frustrating. We need to hold our leaders accountable, whether it be at the local, state, or federal level. I look forward to continuing this topic in a later issue. And I send a Special thanks to Mrs. Delehanty.
5 Comments
Laura Delehanty
10/27/2020 12:18:41 pm
Great article Deziree! This is such an important topic and I'm really grateful that you are tackling it and bringing it to people's attention. It was a pleasure talking to you.
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Mr. Keenan
10/27/2020 12:35:58 pm
Very good article, Deziree. If you want to learn more about the segregated school district borders that Mrs. D was telling you about, the report, by EdBuild is titled, "Fault Lines: America's Most Segregating School District Borders."
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Girven
11/30/2020 09:15:59 am
Continue to be an activist! We need more young people like you to fundamentally change and challenge inequity every time we see it. What do you think of county schools?
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Susan Meier
11/30/2020 03:08:48 pm
It was very interesting to see how you internalized and really thought about the content you learned in TLI. As a white person, I am frustrated with my white suburban friends' lack of knowledge and interest in this topic sometimes. I wish young black people would think about how they might help white people learn what they need to learn. I am interested in the crossover of white people talking to black people and vice versa about racism. Because the gap is wide. Good for you grappling with this.
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