Columbia, South Carolina. A city with a population of approximately 130,000.

Yes, Columbia is a city and is the capital of South Carolina. Columbia is where I have lived for the past 18 years, in the same house, same street, same neighborhood. I attended a public middle and high school from grades 6 to 10. I am by no means an expert on this topic, but I have seen it for myself.

There is little exposure to different cultures and people in the Columbia education system. There is still little exposure to race.

Classes were set up where students were divided into classes based off of AAP (pre-AP track), Honors Track, and a Regular Track. Despite my public and middle and high school being almost half black students, I had 2 or 3 at the most in my classes of 20-30 students.

South Carolina is known for having a poor education system, but not for schools that are still segregated.

I don’t think this is a conscious segregation, but by imposing levels to the system there is a clear race distribution between the higher and lower level classes. By the time these students are in the 6th grade, they are already being put on a path for the rest of their school experience.

Yes, there are other factors that go into this divide, but should an 11-year-old have their whole secondary school career be decided by their test scores in the 6th grade? This system seems to feed the idea of this issue being caused by a lack of motivation.

To that point, I would like to ask why a 6th-grade student would be motivated if they are placed on the regular track? Black students in the US already have a lower chance of graduation, and I don’t think this system is doing anything to improve it.

All students should have an equal opportunity to learn.

By dividing students in middle school, I have seen the effects in action. Very few students move up in the education tracks. This may be because some students are only at a regular level, but it also puts them behind. In 6th grade, I was in an honors math class and worked hard to get into the highest rated math class. Despite getting into the class, I never felt like I caught up on the curriculum because it was so far ahead of my class.

From the age of 11, we are telling these children that they are not as special as other children and that there is no chance for them to try.

There is still more. There are schools that are predominately white or black that continue to not be inclusive. The schools that have a majority of black students, tend to be lower ranked schools in the district. White families try to avoid neighborhoods that zone to these schools because they want their children to receive a good education. This shouldn’t be an issue to begin with.

There should be equal funding and education at public schools. The current system creates a cycle where because the school is bad, the students will not get high test scores, and will not receive funding for their schools. Black children should not be zoned into worse schools because of their income level, and then not have the state supply funds.

This all screams that there is still an issue and that we have a new form of segregation. Lawmakers and residents need to work together if this issue is going to be solved, and it won’t happen just by pumping money into the system. Each school needs a system to ensure every student has an opportunity to receive a good education.

No child should feel trapped or not have access to challenging courses from the start.

I urge all of you to write or call your representatives, both at the local and federal level and ensure that the public education system will not continue to fail black youth.

I encourage you to also do additional reading and research (look up the Corridor of Shame) and will leave a few resources to get you started.

From thestate.com.

From postandcourier.com.

From charlestonchrinocle.net.

From washingtonpost.com.