BIPoC Students Survival Skills in PWI's (3)

As a mixed-race student of color who is 'academically accelerated', I have worked twice as hard as white students to be able to enter spaces of other students with that identification. Even for Gifted and Talented (GT), I was not identified until fifth grade, even though I was at the same level as my peers who were always pulled away from class for GT activities. I have gone to a predominantly white institution (PWI) for my entire K-12 career. As I got older and started to learn all of the buzz words that captured my experiences, I have also done reflection on how my peers and I have been able to navigate these spaces for so long, while others have not. In working towards creating more equitable schools in DMPS and the state of Iowa as a whole, the one thing that always comes up is the disparities between BIPoC students and white students in accelerated spaces such as AP courses and Central Academy, and then along with that is the discussion of retention rates. From my personal experiences, learning from my peers, and facilitating discussions in professional educational spaces, I have always come back to the idea of the 'survival skills' that BIPoC students develop in order to remain in predominantly white spaces and institutions. 

Every student has a different experience with how they deal with these typically traumatizing spaces, from things like code-switching to fight or flight, but the thing that they are all centered around is having to change significant parts of yourself in order to achieve the education you want. Gifted and accelerated students of course have to practice self-advocacy and taking responsibility in their learning, but for students of color, we on top of that have to actually 'get used' to constantly being in racist spaces. This can look like suppressing feelings of discomfort or anger just to get through the day or having to be the only person in the class speaking up in conversations about race, or having to stand up for yourself when someone invalidates your identity. These adaptations take a level of strength that no person should ever have to learn at such a young age, and not every person can. We often have to trade the typical high school social life for survival in our education, because sometimes just getting through the day can be so draining that it can be difficult to face peers at events such as football games or school dances when those peers have been actively harmful to your personal identity. Furthermore, it is not something that students can just turn on and off. The BIPoC students who actually have been exposed to these experiences at a young age are typically the ones who are able to maintain a strong presence throughout AP courses and Central Academy, but along with that, we are always asked to help figure out how to help other students or staff in one way or another; not only have we had to work to get to those spaces and stay there, but once that happens we are often expected to be a model for everyone else, or be used as sort of guinea pigs for adults to understand how we got there. 

However, this is not something that can just be changed with one more program or culturally inclusive training, because it is something completely ingrained into the lives of the BIPoC students and the system of predominantly white students. The task is daunting, but it must be done in order to create completely inclusive educational environments. The things that must be done to change this seem obvious to every student of color: hire more BIPoC teachers, have more inclusive courses and equity and racial bias training, etc., but none of this is effective if BIPoC students are still expected to just put up with racism and suppress parts of themselves every time they walk through the doors of a PWI. Teachers and students together create the school environment, and whether it is intentional or inadvertent, the decisions and actions of the majority decide who gets to be welcomed and who is shut out within this environment, so understanding the deep-rooted causes and listening to all students, not just the ones who are deemed gifted or accelerated, is critical in changing these environments for the better. 

Gabriella S. Hoard