The "Other" in High School

Kumashiro’s article Toward a Theory of Anti-Oppressive Education made me think of the parallels between school and society. It got me thinking whether school reflects society or if society reflects school. Kumashiro’s “Other” in the school has historically been blacks, but today it can also include homosexuals, people of low socioeconomic status, or those who simply are not the norm or accepted minority. To answer whether school has a stronger affect on society or if society more strongly affects schools I look to examples of integration during the 60s. Through Civil Rights there were changes in the schools, but changes in the schools such as integration did not lead to integration in surrounding cities. While schools are a strong agent of change I do not think they are strong enough alone to change society. I feel as though schools are reflections of society.

The term “Other” used by Kumashiro made me think of my own high school and the dynamics of the “Other” that I experienced. I feel as though there is a strong difference between societal others such as minorities, the poor, homosexuals, and even women compared to school others such as nerds, drama club, Goths, and other groups that are marginalized. Societal norms can be included in school norms, but after high school some of the terms for “Others” in school settings such as “nerds” are not really considered to be “Others” in society. High school seemed to be more about labels and which group you belonged to than the “real world”. While which group you belong to does affect your social status I feel as though it does not define you as much as it did in high school. The term the “Other” made me think of how the lunch room of high schools is segregated into separate groups. At each table, or areas of the lunchroom, there were different subgroups such as jocks, popular kids, stoners, black kids, nerds, Mexicans, Goths, dorks, drama club. And then it was further divided into which class you belonged to; so if you were a freshman and a “dork” then you were really at the bottom of the totem pole. At each school one of these labels carries a certain connotation and it may be more acceptable to be in the drama club at some schools compared to others. But all you had to do was look at who you were sitting by to see what your status or worth was in the teenage wasteland.

Questions to consider:
- Do you feel as though schools affect society or if society affects schools more.
- What did your high school lunchroom look like, what did it say about your status.