Opinion: We Must Reduce Gentrification in Our Classrooms

By Alexandra Mejia

Gentrification of Oakland leaves many of us with empty pockets and anxiety about a rent increase, but have we ever thought about gentrification af­fecting more than just where we live?

As families and educators, we are facing gentrification in our classrooms. Students are being referred to special edu­cation classes, missing out on class lectures, and being put in situations where they are at risk of dropping out.There is a disconnect between our highly diverse youth and the teachers who educate them. One issue many students face is the educators’ idea of “safety.”

Because frequently teachers are not from Oakland commu­nities or similar communities, they struggle to connect with students who have been shaped by the communities in which they live.

These new white educators do not comprehend the every­day struggles and traumatic situations that the students of Oakland may face. These teach­ers are caught off guard by the culture shock they have been hired into, and they may adopt a narrative that their students make them feel unsafe or en­dangered.

Our students face every day issues that these new, naïve teachers are not prepared to ad­dress, and so they simply teach to the small portion that they feel comfortable with and deem the rest as low-performing.

These “low performing” stu­dents are taken out of class to re­ceive some sort of punishment, referred to special education classes for behavior problems, or even expelled.

Thus, students are placed on a path that leads to the teachers’ self-fulfilling prophecy. They believe that because everyone thinks they are “bad” and, that is what they must become.

Frequently these new teach­ers give up and resign, begin­ning a new cycle of inexperi­enced, ill prepared teachers. Education becomes associated with institutionalized oppres­sion and students reject the school system that treats them like outsiders in their own com­munities.

There is an immediate need to hire teachers devoid of the systematic biases that target our students of color.

So why is this influx of white middle class educators such a trend? It is easy to assume that there are just simply not enough teachers coming out of the Oak­land community, but that as­sumption is entirely false.

The reality is that there are teachers who are shaped by these types of communities who are exploding with pas­sion about teaching the youth that they see themselves in, but simply struggle to survive eco­nomically as a teacher.

After four years of racking up student debt to earn a bachelor’s degree, prospective teachers must partake in an intensive credential program that requires them to volunteer themselves for a year of free teaching and pay hundreds of dollars to pass a series of tests in order to gain their credential.

Then, when hired on as teachers, they are barely mak­ing enough money to pay their rent. Many teachers face the choice to either sacrifice finan­cial stability, or sacrifice having a career where they can shape and educate youth in an effec­tive way.

If we begin to support and value effective teachers, we will see a change in the community. The city of Oakland would ben­efit immensely by hiring teach­ers in their own communities as educators, but what steps must be taken to make this possible?

The students of Holy Names University propose that afford­able housing for public school teachers from the Oakland community would lead to an in­crease in student performance, a greater teacher retention rate, strengthening of the Oakland community and an overall more productive, welcoming school environment.

Alexandra Mejia is an Oakland resident preparing to be a teacher and a graduate student at Holy Names University.