How Redlining Affects the U.S. Education System

The education system is racist.

I recently had a heated discussion with a family member who denies systemic racism. During this discussion, I presented him with an example: the United States’ education system is racist due to redlining at this very moment in time.

While I can and did give him countless examples of how the denial of racism today is completely asinine, he laughed at and argued with every word I said.

Redlining is an example of systemic racism and it’s still seen every day in the classroom. I know this from experience.

America’s Education System is Racist

While I say that America’s education system is racist — it goes back to systemic racism, of course. Systemic racism infiltrates our education system each and every day.

While I have made many efforts to learn more about racism and the experiences people have had in regards to it, I’ll never truly know what it’s like to be a victim of racism. I do, however, have a bit of a grasp on racism in the United States’ education system after having been a public school teacher for five years. I’ve observed my black students and all students of color be given fewer opportunities at school solely because of where they live. And, the majority live where they live because of their skin color.

Redlining is Illegal, But it is Not a Thing of the Past

Even though the Fair Housing Act was passed about 50 years ago to put end to redlining, the effects of redlining are very much so still present.

Redlining still happens; it just isn’t given the official name anymore.

For a quick lesson for those who may need it and for a reminder to myself— redlining was an act of creating areas on a map that showed ‘risky’ neighborhoods. These neighborhoods were typically inhabited by people of color. Redlining meant that banks would deny mortgages to people strictly based on their race or where they lived. Although redlining is now illegal, according to a 2018 study, people of color (Black, Latino, and Asian) were turned away for home loans at a higher rate than white people. And, it wasn't because they didn’t make enough money or have a high credit score. It’s because redlining still happens; it just isn’t given the official name anymore.

The Act of Redlining Neighborhoods Carries Over to the Classroom

The education system receives funds based on property taxes, or at least partly. Where a school is located affects the amount of money that school is provided. Students attend schools based on the area that they live in.

Websites like this one allow parents to review schools and receive information about the quality of different schools. Many families use this information to choose where to live. They want to live in an area that has a high-quality school. The problem with this is that families trying to buy a home who are victims of the redlining technique can’t buy homes in the preferred areas, so they are forced to go to low-quality schools.

High-quality schools are given more money. Low-quality schools are given less money.

Schools receive funding based on property taxes. Property taxes are based on the value of property in a neighborhood. People of color aren’t approved for mortgages to live in certain neighborhoods, so they live in neighborhoods where property taxes are lower. These children are forced to go to the school located in their neighborhood because of the lack of freedom in choosing schools. And, these schools they are forced to go to have less funding due to lower property taxes due to redlining because of skin color.

Do you see how the education system is racist because schools that are populated with mostly students of color get less money? Less money means fewer resources. Fewer resources mean less chance for success. Less chance for success means a greater chance of failure. And, the cycle continues.

My Personal Experience With Racism in the Education System as a Teacher

In my time as a teacher in a low-income school, I always had fewer resources than my teacher friends in schools with more funding. It’s important for me to note that even though certain schools receive more funding, the education system is still broken in America for a multitude of reasons.

With very limited resources, being an effective teacher feels close to impossible.

Exhausted, Discouraged, and Unsupported Teachers Teach Students of Color

Low-income schools are not taken very seriously by ‘the people in charge.’ I fought for my students day in and day out with little to no support. It was exhausting. I felt like I was always running around in circles and I was working myself to death in order to do what I needed to do to help my students succeed.

The majority of my students and the majority of the students in my school scored below grade level on standardized tests every quarter. Instead of consistently low test scores raising much-needed questions in our education system, individual teachers were required to make a plan of action. How can a teacher create and implement a plan for their students to succeed when they are not provided with the resources needed to do so? I have been wondering this since my first year as a teacher back in 2014. I still have no answer and I still look back at that discouraged teacher and wonder how she went back year after year for five years and pretended she could maybe do right for those students when she wasn’t even allowed to.

A lack of resources also comes with a lack of support. Again, I begged and pleaded to receive help for my students who desperately needed more than I could provide them. The support never surfaced. The people who could maybe provide the needed assistance couldn’t, or wouldn’t, because they knew deep down that there was nothing that could be done without the resources to do it.

My Students Deserved So Much More

Being exhausted, discouraged, and unsupported meant that there was no way I was possibly being the teacher those children deserved. Back then I used to think: wow I’m truly a good one, a gem. No, I wasn’t. I was ready for bed every morning when I walked through the doors of my classroom. I wondered throughout the day how I’d make it to dismissal. I dreaded afterschool meetings where I would be told one more thing I needed to do better while not getting any support whatsoever.

In my last year as a public school teacher, I was drained beyond belief. All the issues had built up and consumed my entire life and I just couldn’t do it anymore.

I know for a fact that if there had been more funding for my school that I would’ve done better. Things certainly wouldn’t have been perfect because, again, the United States’ education system as a whole is broken. However, I wouldn’t have been so exhausted. I wouldn’t have stayed up hours into the night preparing activities for students by hand when I should’ve been resting up for work the next day. I wouldn’t have worked my second job all weekend to make up for the salary I wasn’t receiving and to buy snacks for students just so they wouldn’t be trying to learn on an empty stomach. I wouldn’t have cried many days on the way to work because I didn’t have time to focus on my mental health.

I did the best I could given the circumstances.

With all of this said, I feel like I owe it to myself to remember that I put my heart and soul into this job for most of those five years. Yes, I had my moments (sometimes days). But, I worked very hard with what I had. I know I could’ve done better, but I did the best I could given the circumstances.

A Never-Ending Cycle

Students of color are forced to go to schools with less funding but can’t live in areas with schools given more funding. Without the proper resources to succeed, students are set up for failure. When students fail in school, they aren’t given the chance to be successful outside of school. When humans aren’t successful in the real world, they make often bad choices. It’s a never-ending cycle.

What Can We Do?

Because students of color aren’t treated equally to the white children across town, the cycle continues. The racist education system is a result of systemic racism, so this cycle will continue as long as systemic racism exists.

Will you be a part of the change?

• Talk to others about systemic racism. Watch and share this video.
• Get involved in organizations working to make a change in our education system. The Schott Foundation for Public Education is doing great things to achieve fully-resourced quality public education.
• If you are a teacher, check your implicit biases and become an anti-racist educator.
• Donate for a cause to organizations like Color of Change and Black Lives Matter.
• Use these helpful tips to write a letter to policymakers. Parents, you can include your children by having them write a letter.

“Unless you’re not only not a racist, but you speak against racism where it shows up, it can continue to be part of the fiber of a particular way that a particular structure operates.”