Story Hour

I work at a private university that provides graduate programs in education – we work with individuals who want to become teachers and/or administrators, but who need/prefer the flexibility of evening classes.  This means we’re both more flexible and more expensive than the local state university, and thus I encounter a wide range of students from diverse backgrounds.   Many of them are what we call “nontraditional” candidates – not your typical 22-year-old, fresh out of undergrad.  A lot of them have kids, and the majority of them work during the day.  Some of them depend on federal student loans to pay their bills.  They’re all hoping to find a satisfying career in education, to serve the children of Kern County, but they all have different stories.

 

This Friday, I have an appointment with Sharon Ramirez*.  I’m helping her prepare for the California Subject Examination for Teachers (CSET), as she’s struggled to pass it for years, and she has one last chance to pass it in order to keep her job as a Special Education teacher (on an emergency permit).  Sharon is originally from Delano, a small town outside Bakersfield, and she dropped out of high school at fifteen when she found out she was pregnant.  She went back to school and finished her undergraduate degree in her late twenties and is determined to earn her credential and master’s degree in order to provide a stable career for her family.  When I asked her if she still lived in Delano, she said, “I moved to Rosedale because I wanted my daughter to have a better life.”  Rosedale is one of the white/wealthy suburbs of Bakersfield.  According to Sharon, if she’d grown up there, instead of the more rural/Latino Delano, she would have had more opportunities for success.

 

Erica Hernandez*, on the other hand, lives on “my” side of town – 93306 – the East side of Bakersfield.  When I was applying for her credential and remarked that we lived in the same zip code, she said, laughing a little, “Oh, yeah – East Bakersfield,” as if she were acknowledging an embarrassing secret.  I asked whether she’d lived there long and she said, “born and raised – still live in the same house.  But I’m moving soon.”  Erica is an excellent student – she sailed through the credential program and has a job waiting for her this fall – on the East side, in fact.  But, she’s purchased a house on the opposite side of town – in the “nicer” Northwest area that will mean a 35-minute drive to work each day.

 

Melanie Crandall* just had her second child and is exhausted when she gets to class.  However, she is determined that she is not going to stay in the position of “teacher’s aide” forever – she wants a classroom of her own.  As a Black woman, she recalls attending West High School in Bakersfield – now considered one of the most “ghetto” schools in town – and understanding the ranking system that separated students by race and socio-economic status.  Rich white kids didn’t go to West.  “Liberty and Stockdale were the ‘rich white’ schools,” she said.  “We never associated with anyone from there.  Why would we?”  The only reason students would transfer to schools outside their district was usually for sports – “and they usually went from ‘good’ school to ‘good’ school when they did that.”

 

Some of their experiences were the same, however.  As children in the Bakersfield/Delano public schools, they all went on field trips to Insect Lore (http://www.insectlore.com/bugseum), Camp Keep (http://www.campkeep.org/), and Fort Tejon (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=585).  These mini-trips provided not only enrichment but a link among all students in Kern County, regardless of socio-economic status or race.  Whether a student attended school in the “fancy” part of town or in the “East” side, they could all claim these experiences.  And, regardless of whether they want to move to Rosedale, these three candidates have all expressed the desire to teach anywhere in Kern County, regardless of the school’s perceived status.  Even Sharon, who moved to Rosedale thinking it would be a “better neighborhood,” chooses to teach in McFarland, a rural area outside Bakersfield (close to Delano, in fact) with a largely Hispanic population.

And yet….

Today a student walked into the lobby and asked if she could speak with our Field Experience Supervisor, because she was “feeling really scared about her student teaching placement.”  My office is right next to our Field Experience Supervisor, so I heard the entire exchange, which went like this:

Student: “I’m just really freaking out about my placement for student teaching this fall.”

Field Experience Supervisor (FES): “We haven’t placed you yet, though.”

Student: “I know, but I’m just panicking already.  I really want to be placed somewhere like Norris – you know, somewhere safe.”

Note: Norris is one of the few schools where we actually can’t place students, because it is so white, it doesn’t meet diversity requirements – no English Learners, nothing.  Obviously, the student was equating white = safety.  

FES: “Safe?”

Student: “Well, you know.  Places like Wasco or Lakeside are just dangerous! I just need to be somewhere where I’m safe.  Like Norris.”

Note: Wasco and Lakeside are, as you may have already guessed, more diverse schools.  Perfectly safe.  Except if you consider the presence of students of color dangerous.  

FES: “I’ll need to bring this to the director.”

This was my reaction:

Can’t do it.

Yet, if the student was able to understand the diversity of voices that exist in Bakersfield, despite the segregation that continues to plague the town, she would understand that she is among people with the same dreams, the same goals – Sharon, Erica, and Melanie have different stories, but they’re driving down the same road, and this student is missing out on a great ride.

*All names have been changed.