https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl Made with an eye critical of meritocracy en-us 2021-10-20 06:11:07 UTC 2025-11-18 04:06:05 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f98e.png ccruz334 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1829608898 When I was a senior in HS, I got awards, scholarships, but I was still low-balled by a college counselor who did not believe I could make it at a private liberal arts college. They told me to go to community college first, to see if I could "make it," before wasting taxpayers money.]]> 2021-10-20 07:20:18 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1829608898 juliaholden https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831489134 I recall back in elementary school, I was really good friends with a hispanic girl. And when we would come back from recess, and she would be taken to an ESL class for an hour. But, as a child I did not understand why she didn't stay in our classroom, so one day I tried to go with her to the class. But, my teacher had to stop me and say that I can't go with them. And I was really upset that I couldn't go with my friend, but it was because her first language wasn't English, but she spoke English perfectly well. ]]> 2021-10-20 19:40:03 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831489134 miaschneider3 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831493905 When I was in high school I was in Advanced math for my grade. I was in a classroom full of all boys and two other girls who were quiet and standoff-ish. I was told over and over that I should not be in the class and that I shouldn't think about pursuing a career with math such as a math teacher or an engineer of sorts. This was never my goal, I was just good at math and liked it. I was told to take the SAT but that I should put extra time in in studying because I 'needed' it. ]]> 2021-10-20 19:42:19 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831493905 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831503426 Back in elementary school, I had to be put in extra reading and ESL classes. I would be taken out of class for at least an hour everyday because I spoke better Spanish than I did English. It was annoying that I spent so much time in it, only because students would have test out of that class- looking back it was very helpful to overcome my language barrier, but I just wish that the kids and I who were put into those classes wouldn't think less of themselves compared to the other students. I remember that being in those extra reading and writing classes meant that you weren't as "smart" as everyone else. ]]> 2021-10-20 19:46:49 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831503426 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831503923 When I was younger my school embraced Mexican Culture by teaching us to play Mariachi songs and inviting us to conferences, so that we could come together as a community of students, and learn new songs together. This was a highlight of my year for several years. We were taught to embrace our culture, and to bond with our peers in a happy environment.]]> 2021-10-20 19:47:04 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831503923 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831504416 When I was in middle school, I think I was in 8th grade, I was walking home from school with a group of friends. I had a mix group of friends and I remember one of my friends (not my friend anymore) told me that I was pretty for a black girl. I knew that the comment wasn't nice, but instead insulting to African American women.  ]]> 2021-10-20 19:47:19 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831504416 hbertics1 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831504947 I once read an article about the history of who was able to attend college and was appalled. Like many other opportunities, college was only available for elite, white, men. Reading about the "Edinburgh Seven," which were seven women who were denied their degrees based on their sex alone made me appreciate the hard work of so many people for me, other people who don't identify as male, and people of other races to attend university. I think we still have work to do since so many of my previous coursework in Computer Sciences were dominated  by men, but it has been a start.

Heather]]> 2021-10-20 19:47:35 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831504947 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831505643 Growing up, I never had an experience where I felt that I was treated worse than anyone else around me based on my race or ability. In many ways, I felt that I was treated better than most because I was one of the only girls that was in advanced math and science classes in my year. I was constantly told that I should pursue a degree in STEM, and doing anything less than that was a waste of skills. Further than it just being told to me consistently, I was also expected to pursue a degree in medicine. Even though this was not where my passions were, it was socially expected. This was difficult to hear because I never had an interest in pursuing STEM outside of high school. As a result of this, I think that I had a similar experience with false expectations, but on the other side of the spectrum.]]> 2021-10-20 19:47:54 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831505643 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831506543 I went to middle school and high school in an all white town, in an all white school, and it kinda sucked. When my sister and I first started school all was well, but when people started asking, “can i touch your hair?” “Its like cotton candy.” “How do you brush it?” I then realized my classmates have never meet another black person before. It wasn't a bad experience but feeling different was new to me. It was weird to see a confederate flag outside my neighbors house and not being able to do anything about it. I learned to adapt to my new life and blow things off, but when i came to college, which is very diverse, I had to adapt all over again. ]]> 2021-10-20 19:48:20 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831506543 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831506649 All throughout high school I got special treatment. Going into high school after my brother just graduated with football records and having high academic rewards and teachers being fascinated with my last name as I am directly related to the Hatfield vs Mccoy feud. While attending my grandparents were big donors to the school so I believe that played a part on me being excused from classes and essentially receiving a lot of free grades. During my Junior year of football I developed issues with my brain that I got to escape surgery for teachers and staff although allowing me to skip classes and essentially entire days started taking bets and wagers on if I would make it past 25 years of age actively in front of me when I would be getting ready for practice. So although I got a lot of special treatment I still had adults laughing at my injuries.]]> 2021-10-20 19:48:23 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831506649 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831506759 Bela 
In my experiences in middle school while living in Georgia our school was mainly black and Latinx students. Now looking back some of our teachers did not put the same effort they did with their white students. They didn't encourage us like they did others and we had a sort of feeling like they gave up on us. We were a group of very difficult students, (behavioral-wise) but we had a select few teachers who were great and we would equally engage in class and our work. From then I knew a teacher makes all the difference and I greatly appreciated that! ]]> 2021-10-20 19:48:26 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831506759 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831507088 When I was in middle school, I was in a PE class that included weight training. I was very active at the time and really enjoyed lifting weights and gaining strength. One day some boys made a comment that I wasn't "girly" enough because I liked working out and were suggesting that lifting weights was only for boys and that girls shouldn't be strong.]]> 2021-10-20 19:48:36 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831507088 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831507370 When I was a child my Uncle married my aunt, who is black, and together they have mixed children. When I would go in public with my aunt, people would look at us confused or differently because we did not look the same. Growing up, people would never believe that my cousins and I were related because of the color of our skin. ]]> 2021-10-20 19:48:44 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831507370 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831508081 All throughout middle school, I was the only girl in my grade. I had some friends in other grades at my school but I constantly felt left out within my own grade. It's hard to feel automatically different just because of my gender at such a young age, and for three years in a row, sixth, seventh, and eighth. Comments would be made about me being the only girl and some of them were not kind. They made me uncomfortable and put an automatic spotlight on me. I didn't have anyone to play with at recess and I felt really alone. Some classes would sometimes make their focus on more "boy ways of teaching" and relate purely to the boys, leaving me left out. No 11 year old should feel excluded for something they can't control.]]> 2021-10-20 19:49:04 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831508081 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831510222 When I was in the 1st grade I went to a private christian school, Trinity Elementary School, which was mostly made up of Indians and Asians. In that school made up of 150 1st graders I was the only white little girl in my grade. After attending that school for nearly two months my parents began to notice I was getting every answer wrong on my homework, failing all my test, not doing well on my in-class work even though I had the exact same answers to every assignment my other classmates had. After bringing this issue to the principal with evidence in hand my parents pulled me out a month later as they felt I was getting singled out and not receiving fair treatment. ]]> 2021-10-20 19:50:06 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831510222 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831510988 I was in ESL all throughout elementary school and reading lab. One day going back to class I remember that my friends that were in the class wanted to take a shortcut. A teacher saw us take the shortcut and told us that we couldn't do it. She followed all of us to class and made sure the tell all of out teachers what we did. I remember my teacher made me switch my card and it was the first time that I ever got in trouble. ]]> 2021-10-20 19:50:29 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831510988 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831513145 When I was a baby, my mom took me shopping. She has blonde hair and light features, unlike me who has dark curly hair and gets naturally tan during the summer months. At one of the stores, the owner made a racist comment to my mom about my appearance. She assumed because of how I looked my father was black or Latino. My mom was in complete shock that someone would make such a comment that she dropped everything she was going to buy and left with me in the stroller.


]]> 2021-10-20 19:51:29 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831513145 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831514321 In elementary school my 4th grade teacher would make fun of my mom's accent and her english during parent teacher conferences and when my mom would call this teacher, he would also mention it during class like "You speak better english then your mom" or "I can't help but laugh when your mom calls". This was the same teacher that placed me in ELS classes even after I had tested out of them and tested in advanced classes. So I would be pulled out of class to go to the ELS classes and I would also attend after school and on the weekends. He continued to just make my learning difficult throughout my time in the school and this happened for about half of the year and the administration did not want to do anything about it so my parents decided that it was better to just move schools.]]> 2021-10-20 19:52:00 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831514321 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831515404 When I was on my high school cross country team, the team faced a lot of sexism from my coach. We were assigned jobs to do before meets or after practice. Boys tended to carry the water jugs or move tents while the coach insisted that the girls pass out food during team dinners. Whenever girls would ask to help out with tents or carrying things, the answer was always no. We were always told that our job was to hand out the food during our team dinners. There were many instances like this throughout my four years on the team. ]]> 2021-10-20 19:52:32 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831515404 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831516777 I went to a college fair my junior year in high school and was talking to a representative from an expensive east coast school. I mentioned that I grew up in a household with a Black single mother. Without any other knowledge, the college rep said that I might be better off sticking close to home because their college was extremely expensive and that my mom might not have the means for me to attend that school.]]> 2021-10-20 19:53:14 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831516777 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831519349 I went to a predominately white school and area. I think there was total of 9 Asian Immigrant students at my high school and we all became friends from middle school.  We kinda stuck together honestly. We didn't have any classes together because of the different career tracks we were on but the second we left our classes we found each other. We used to get a lot of the stupid "do you eat your dog?" "jokes" or the BS about how Asians can't drive. After a while we got in to a big fight against some of the popular pretty Caucasian girls at my old school. Due to this I almost had to go court because I had made an instagram post about how my school protects racist assholes. Eventually enough people from the class I was in when the fight happen stood by me, and the case was dismissed but afterwards I became the "court girl"]]> 2021-10-20 19:54:33 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831519349 ashtynsullivan https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831521964 When I was in elementary school I used to live next to a water park. I remember one of my teachers would always say things to me like "such a pretty girl" or "you'll be so pretty when you grow up" (they were a lady so I didn't take this as being predatory). But then when I would return to school after the summer break, darker from swimming every day, I would get no such comments, one time she even told me I was too dark. My mother's compliments followed the same trend which is interesting to me since they were both Asian women, my mother having brown skin and my teacher having a much paler complexion. I know even this experience shows my privilege and, in general, I did not face much, if any, racism throughout my life. But within the Asian community, especially among the elders, I have experienced no shortage of colorism.]]> 2021-10-20 19:55:56 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831521964 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831522643 When I was younger I was very close with a group of girls since we were together all the time, from school to after-school activities to religious school on the weekends. They all knew me pretty well and all knew that I'm mixed (half white and half Latina). We were also close family friends so they knew my parents and my brothers and we don't look alike at all but they're my biological brothers. Fast-forwarding a few years to high school, one of the girls from that group came up to me and asked "now which one of your brothers is adopted again? or are you the adopted one?". It made me feel terrible because I don't think that is an assumption that should be made when siblings don't look exactly alike, and it's also not the right way to ask. My brothers and I always got looks of confusion because of how we look next to each other and it made us feel like we didn't belong.]]> 2021-10-20 19:56:17 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831522643 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831533398 I did one year of middle school here in the U.S. and then continued my education in Mexico, while I was studying here my mom went to a parent teacher conference and there was not a single Spanish speaker. She often got frustrated because she could not communicate with my teachers or the principal so she had to take a person to translate for her every single time. The school is here in Tucson and she was upset that there weren't more staff who spoke Spanish.  She wanted me to leave the school and enroll at a bilingual school so that she could communicate with them. ]]> 2021-10-20 20:01:18 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831533398 https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831572669 My high school is located on the South Side of Tucson; majority of the student and faculty population made up of Latinos. As a school, we embraced who we are, but I would say are ethnic backgrounds played a major role in the resources and funding we received at our school that impacted are educational experiences as a whole. We had what we "needed" and worked for what we wanted, but we weren't as privileged to have similar opportunities like other students, say on the North Side (majority white), due to funding and resources sometimes. But, our community always pushed us to strive for success and don't have money stop us from achieving what we wanted, especially when deciding to go to college.]]> 2021-10-20 20:21:35 UTC https://padlet.com/ccruz334/zfof0jxr2vv7g3dl/wish/1831572669