Minding the Gates

By Kevin Gallegos Mendez / Winter 2020

Education is arguably one of the most important components in an individual’s life. It can revolutionize the world by building upon ideas that have gone through criticism and refinery in hopes of mastering the theory to innovate. We are descendants of natural philosophers, men who once thought the world lied at the center of the universe, who thought astrology had this invisible connection through the ether that connected man to the heavens. Through education, we have moved away from these beliefs to something grounded upon data that reflect phenomena; changing our beliefs and how we view the world. But the power of education does not stop there. Education can move individuals up from socio-economic status by providing individuals with tools to become assets. In this modern-day neoliberalist economic system that coerces the hand of the individual to essentially pick a profession of value, education is critical to become a symbol of success. Public education can essentially be the key to success, income, life, economic liberty, etc. So why is it that the United States, a country that claims on the Constitution “…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The US fails to uphold this claim by establishing a public pedagogy for an education market that limits the success of schools, specifically schools of color as a result of policies that are reflective of historical systemic oppression of these groups? If we are in fact all equal and free, why is there unequal funding for public schools, quality education, college enrollment, employment, and why am I not free to pick an off-beat profession for fear of unsustainability? Nancy Solomon, writer of Mind the Gap best describes this as, “Disparities in academics are just another manifestation of other inequalities.” 

I’d like to start by sharing my experience through the public education system. In hindsight, I realize I had to carefully navigate the system to optimize my opportunities as a student. I was raised in Bell Gardens, CA. The son of an immigrant family and a native Spanish speaker. Being a native Spanish speaker resulted in my placement in English as a second language class (ESL). My placement in an ESL class didn’t make sense to me at the time, I learned English pretty quickly from cousins, family, television my English was on par with the general student body yet was not placed in a proper classroom for my learning ability. My parents weren’t aware of this until I made it apparent to them indirectly. They complained and eventually got me placed in an appropriate class setting. Around 6th grade is when I was drafted for a Gifted and Talented program (GATE). This program is designed to track high academic achieving students and provide them with what is essentially a better education. Through this program, you get to know your councilors and your parents are encouraged to connect with the school. It was important to establish this network between parent and teacher due to most students in my school—like me—were of low economic status (LES) whose parents did not complete or attend university. This program allowed for teachers and parents to connect to exchange details about schools, classes, and services that allow for efficient and strategic travel throughout the public education system. As I continued my education a series of rebellious acts and poor grades resulted in my removal from this program and I was placed in the courses with the general population. There was a notable difference in the way the students were perceived in these classrooms. Being in the GATE program gave me access into this world of privilege; classes were challenging yet engaging, campus security knew of you, they didn’t hassle you much about being out without a pass or being late to class, you didn’t have drug searching dogs come into your classroom. My councilors liked me at one point. They knew of me and my parents, but their interest in me seemed to fade after I was removed from the GATE program. My high school further exposed this deviation in the quality of education through targeted investment in tracked students. This same group of students who were categorized as GATE was placed into Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, a non-profit org that claims to place special emphasis on growing writing, critical thinking, teamwork, organization and reading skills for college-readiness. 

It seems counter-intuitive to provide aid and assistance to the students who need it the least, the high achievers who have proved themselves time and time again while leaving the general population as just the norm. Teachers are an influential factor in a child’s development and progression through academia. They can grade students but more importantly, they have the power to label a child, that is to consider a child gifted, average, underperforming, etc. This leads to the subgrouping of students. 

Nancy Solomon, Pulitzer Prize winner and writer of Mind the Gap speaks on these issues and summarizes it as “Disparities in academics are just another manifestation of other inequalities.” So, what are these other inequalities? Money, right? Easy. Well turns out it’s a little more complicated. Although lack of funding in the public education sector does explain the focusing of fund allocation to high achieving students, we must ask ourselves why these things tend to occur in predominantly black and brown communities. 

So, what is fueling this inequality? It seems like the problem is the way public school funding is structured. Most of their funding is dependent on local tax allocations most notably taxation on property values and this is where the access to quality education begins to deviate. Zoning ordinances for most properties in the United States were developed with the interest in separating communities of color and whites. These communities were typically zoned for commerce and industry and deemed not worthy of investing contrary to white communities; typically zoned as housing communities. Despite a Judicial Court ruling of Buchanan v. Warley stating that racial zoning interfered with a right of a property owner to sell to whomever he pleased and thereby unconstitutional racial zoning was adopted practically nationwide. (Rothstein, 45).

If we look at 1939 Homeowners Loan Corporation map of Los Angeles, we can see how racism managed to make its way into legislation and markets. To facilitate private investment through Federal Home Loan Board Bank (FHLBB) federal government crafted a standard for assessing mortgage risk using a rating system ranging from A to D. A ratings represent the best investment for homeowners and banks alike; B, neighborhoods that were still desirable, C, those in decline, D, areas considered hazardous, D was color-coded red on the map hence its term Redlining (Reft). 

The impact of redlining cannot be overstated. Redlined communities struggled to receive federally backed home loans, making property ownership much more difficult for residents. Moreover, it made getting loans for home improvements – maintenance, upkeep, and renovation – though not impossible, very unlikely. Neighborhoods fell into a decline: the inability to access capital lead to disrepair and the physical decline of a community’s housing stock, which in turn reinforced the redline designation. That redlining became equated with race and class led to the naturalization of segregation; white, working-class homeowners often sought to exclude those populations seen as threatening to home values (Reft). As an example, let’s begin by looking at cities of South East Los Angeles (SELA); Compton’s demographic alone has 56.7% Latino, 39.8% Black; (my neighborhood of) Bell Gardens: 93.7% Latino; Montebello: 74.7% Latino, 10.9% white. 11.4% Asian; Downey: 28.6% White, 57.8% Latino (DataDesk). 

So why does where you live affect the quality of what you learn? The federal funding for education in the united states makes up 10% of the state’s budget, including California. This leaves the remaining budgets for school systems to be supplemented at the state level commonly from state taxes and local taxes, specifically property taxes. The deviation starts here, on average state funds make up about 58% of the funding; this is trailed by local property taxes at 21%, other local taxes at 12%, federal funds at 8% and lottery funds at 1%. Despite local property taxes making at 21% of funding, they do not make up a large part of the deviation in public school funding. The largest sources come from personal income taxes, especially on the state’s wealthiest taxpayers yet some schools can supplement their budget and thus receive more property tax than others and, in some cases, local tax receipts are sufficient to fund a district beyond the state-guaranteed minimum level (PPIC). 

Until 1970, California schools were predominantly funded by local property taxes, like most states in the US. The legislative change led to local school boards functioning to set local property tax rates. These rates varied among districts, varying according to both the tax rate and ‘taxable’ value of homes and commercial properties being taxed. The ability to asses property value was a key function of county assessors; this power essentially allows for the delegation of schools that received substantial funding versus schools that did not. Essentially allowing for division in the quality of education based on the property value of rich and poor neighborhoods. 

If we look at the national AP exam data from 2018, we can see an overall trend that is like that of the total exam averaged on ethnicity in California: 

Keep in mind despite having the categories available to all demographics on the charted data does not account for the fact that all students in California did not have equal access to these courses. Black and Hispanic students had a Total exam average score of 2.25, 2.46 respectively for 37 offered AP courses. Lowest scores being physics 1 at a 1.87 average from black students and 1.89 from Latino students in the same category. White students have a mean score for total exam averages of 3.23 and a physics score of 2.91 (CollegeBoard, 2019).

There is an obvious relationship between the available resources to students in low-income communities/demographics that are more susceptible to poverty and their overall performance when compared to groups in middle class/upper-class students outside those communities. 

These issues despite being so upfront seem to be enforcing gatekeeping from the low-income groups. The marketization of education allows highly competitive schools to often implement ‘lottery’ enrollment or require students to be residents of the community essentially economically gatekeeping other students from stealing an education from one who resides within this community. A system that seems to favor a specific demographic and enforces gatekeeping. 

What American ideology acts as the ruling hand in society? To many, this is just the American way. We’ve heard its pseudonyms as the rat race, the American dream, capitalism. The real name of this ideology is neoliberalism. The basis of the neoliberalist ideology is the redefining of human relations as competition. It sees individuals as consumers whose democratic choices are best exercised by buying and selling. This ideology champions merit and punishes inefficiency (Monbiot). We’ve seen the ideas before, big markets provide jobs and in turn stimulate the economy, i.e. trickle-down economics. Yet, we can look at the history that this laissez-faire regulation of markets and it shows it has favorited few at the cost of many. We’ve seen this before in the development of the intercontinental railroad system being built off the cheap labor of black and Asian immigrants. We’ve seen it in the lack of regulation of 100 hour work weeks in the textile industry in the 1900s coupled with unregulated child labor, and unsafe working conditions. We’ve seen this in the lack of public good programs that fail to serve people in need through tax loopholes and offshore banking. Yet society expects us to believe that this is how things are; our shortcoming is faults of our own.

This idea propagates through all aspects of society in the US; however, our focus remains on the education system; and we can see just how atomizing this idea is in Lewis F. Powell, Jr’s Confidential Memorandum: Attack on American Free Enterprise System. This confidential document that was made public shows how education can be a dangerous tool against the neoliberalist ideology (synonymous with economic ideology). Powell argues that for neoliberalism to remain unchallenged it must integrate itself into the education system. Powell acknowledges the sources of attacks against neoliberalism:

“The most concerning voices coming from respectable elements of society: the pulpit, college campus, the media, the intellectual and literary journals, the arts and sciences, and from politicians. In most of these groups, the movement against the system is participated only by minorities. Yet, these are often the most articulate, vocal, the most prolific in their writing and speaking” (Powell, 232).

Given that education plays an essential tool that minorities can use to educate themselves and others of inequalities in American ideology. For the few that benefit from a system that favors big market any talk about fixing these issues becomes a threat to their pockets.

So how does this look in the long run? Let’s look at the 2018 economic data. Low income by race as of 2018 states 9% of low-income people are White, 22% black, 19% Hispanic, 11% Asian/Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 15% Multi Races. A whopping 2:1 ratio for every black and Hispanic. And overall 4:1 for minority groups (KFF.org). The interconnectedness of this hegemony of neoliberalism partnered with racist history in American development is much more complex than the idea that is commonly told to us. That we are responsible for our shortcomings despite a not so equal start on life. Do these faults that plague black or brown neighborhoods still become the individual’s problem? Overwhelming evidence shows otherwise. Yet for black and brown folks, if you live in in the redline, your school will have less money, you will have inexperienced teachers, your scores will typically be lower, which may affect you in college, career, and in turn, financially, these things often told you can control any failure resulting is from the shortcoming of the individual. 

How can we remedy these wrongdoings that result of this ideology? We can educate individuals about inequalities like the ones I mention. We can start grassroots movements, organize to elect fair and just representatives, transparency in politics to prevent buying political influence. One can push for local and federal regulation in funding in the education system to provide equitable education; develop programs for special needs students, struggling students; remove tracking; provide additional funding to underperforming schools, teacher training, 

These are all good ideas to begin to provide short term solutions to a bigger problem: The marketization of good schools is a product of the neoliberalist ideology. Only when we challenge and wholeheartedly accept that neoliberalism has the potential to skews people’s moral compass into the wrong and place profits over people can we accept the need for a more equitable ideology. A true American ideology as mentioned by our forefathers. One that puts the interest of the good, the right to a life worth living, a true sense of liberty, and achieving happiness. I can’t present a solution to an issue that seems beyond me. But what I can say is that as an individual who has accepted this truth, I feel that I must share this information with others. Because what can help overcome atomization, and competition of people is a sense of community. I am a living example of this data that I have presented to you. I’ve walked through the university with this knowledge often feeling at a disadvantage. I tell my friends about these histories, I rant on social media, I am a defender of my thoughts at the dinner table. But I am aware, that this truth often feels too overwhelming to accept. But I am happy with doing what I feel I can do at the moment. I am accepting of doubters, acceptors, and in-betweeners. Creating tensions only polarizes individuals and closes any opportunity for discussion. So, love wholeheartedly, stand for something, and continue to rekindle this idea. Because the road to change is long and challenging but not impossible. 

Works Cited

"Buchanan v. Warley." Oyez. Accessed 22 Mar. 2020.

“Bell Gardens.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times,    maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/neighborhood/bell-gardens/.

Data Desk, “Mapping L.A: SouthEast.” Los Angeles Times.  Accessed March 22, 2020.

“Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Poverty Rate by Race/Ethnicity.” The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation,  4 Dec. 2019.

Murphy, Patrick, and Jennifer Paluch. “Financing California's Public Schools.” PPIC.org.

Reft, Ryan. “Segregation in the City of Angels: A 1939 Map of Housing Inequality in L.A.” KCET, KCET, 6. June 2019.

Rosthstein, Richard. “Racial Zoning” and “Own Your Own Home.” The Color of Law. Liverright, 2017. Pp. 33-75.