Imagine walking into a place everyday where you feel judged, isolated and overall unwelcome. This is the harsh reality of racism that many students face within schools across the country. The effects of racism not only hinder their academic experience, but their mental health as well.

It’s time that students and staff bring attention to this problem and build a safe, secure, and inclusive environment for everyone. Norwin, like many other school districts, are not immune to the effects of racism. The impact racism has on Norwin cannot be ignored.

The effects of racism go far beyond the classroom and can leave permanent damage to students who deal with it.

According to National Liberty of Medicine, “Racial discrimination across settings has been linked with negative outcomes at school including poorer academic motivation, engagement, and school bonding. Perceived discrimination specifically at school has been linked with poorer academic performance, including lower grade point averages (GPAs) and student engagement, as well as an increased likelihood of high school dropout.”

Due to the fact that racism is making an impact on mental health, it leads to a lack of motivation to participate in school resulting in lifelong problems. Any school’s main focus is to help students learn and get good grades to graduate. But can they really do that if they aren’t focusing on the problems outside of education? 

“I think one of the keys in education is to make sure that those students feel safe within the classroom and do not have to worry about dealing with those types of topics while they’re in the classroom walls,” said a Norwin High School teacher. “Sadly, I do know that students make racial remarks in the halls or to their peers, and I wish we were at a point where those things didn’t exist.”

Although it’s good to know how much the teachers can see the amount of racism going on, it’s important to understand how racism affects the students directly and see how they navigate through those challenges within the school environment.

According to a poll on Norwin’s response to racism, 66 percent of the students that have taken the poll said they’ve heard racial comments in school at least once a week. According to that same poll, only 16 percent of the poll takers feel comfortable reporting the situation to the school.

More than half of the poll takers have seen or dealt with racial comments inside school walls yet less than a quarter have actually reported the problem. This could be caused by students not feeling the need to, or just knowing that Norwin may not give them the response they want. This makes it difficult to solve the problem if it can’t be shared with the school.

“As with any issue, all Norwin really does is get the person in trouble, a detention or some ‘punishment’ but there’s nothing done to correct their behavior,” said an anonymous junior. “No required apology, repair or return, or anything to the actual person victimized.”

Punishment is effective, but Norwin should focus on more than just that. The school should make sure the victim still feels safe in the school and that the person who made the racial comment/act doesn’t try to again. Norwin should see that they truly feel sorry and accepting towards the victim so no further incidents happen.

“I wouldn’t say in terms of discipline, it’s a real issue,” said a NHS teacher. “I don’t hear a lot of the stuff directly being said out loud. I do try to encourage students to just accept all students for who they are regardless of race, religion and everything else that goes along with it.”

Students realizing that they should treat everyone the same and not treat them differently based on how they look is important. Yes students should see everyone’s differences and how unique they are, but that shouldn’t affect how they act towards that person. A student of color should not have to feel singled out in an area where there aren’t many other people of color just because others make them feel like they aren’t welcome.

According to USNews, 91 percent of students that attend Norwin are white.

In a predominantly white school, the lack of diversity can contribute to how much racism is seen and how it is acted upon. When the students aren’t exposed to different cultures, that’s when stereotypes are created causing problems within the school environment.

“A more serious response is to teach race color blindness at a young age, but parents would probably go insane if that happened because Norwin is generally a predominantly white community,” said an anonymous senior. “Teaching more things involving race differences at a young age would at least mitigate the effects of the little bit of verbal racism in this school.”

Students were taught at a young age to include everyone in and get along with each other. But growing up, the area that they live in can make a huge impact on how they act towards others. It is also really dependent on how they were raised so students aren’t fully the ones to blame when it comes to racism. Yet they still instigate it with each other and now has come to a point where it is normalized.

“I personally feel that talking about these things and people writing about them and artists and musicians and so on delving into these topics makes society less racist even though we live in a world today where people want to censor topics about race,” said a NHS teacher. “I feel like they should be talked about in the school setting and read about and discussed because talking about things and removing stigma is the only way to get rid of racism.”

Racism has always been a thing, and though it may not seem as bad now, it’s absolutely still there. People don’t feel the need to talk about the effects of racism because they are so used to it. But it needs to be spoken about everywhere and in every school where the kids are younger and able to take in information better before its too late.

“I think the school should have a speech in the auditorium for all four high school grades separately,” said an anonymous freshman. “Give them that important talk about racism and why it is a terrible thing. Also talk to them about attitudes. Most of the students here (and including a few teachers) aren’t really too kind.”

Not only should Norwin focus on the education side of racism, but also the discipline side. Realistically, a person can be very educated on the pain racism causes and still make a racial comment whether its from peer pressure or they are just trying to be ‘funny’. So when a student is hurting another student through racial motives, they need to have a real punishment that is going to enforce the act to stop.

“Teach students at younger ages about being more inclusive as well as now having greater punishment for those who commit acts involving racism or any bullying or harassment,” said an anonymous junior.

Going through with these ideas that the students created can uplift the school community and give more positive reviews on it. It can prove to the students that the school truly does care about their well being and will act on anything that is a problem and act on it in an efficient way.

By listening to the students’ voices and understanding their perspectives, teachers and staff can gain better knowledge at understanding the issue. Not only Norwin, but all schools across the country should work towards creating a more inclusive educational system and promoting cultural awareness. Showing the importance of diversity and inclusivity can create an environment where students feel valued, understood and accepted.