If you look out the Tahoma High hallway, you will see many more white students than any other race. Some may see this as a simple fact, but there may be a reason to look for more diversity at Tahoma.

It turns out that when most students are of the same status, racially and economically, all of our educations are negatively impacted. There are a strange amount of white people in Tahoma. In the 2016-17 school year, the population throughout the school district was almost 75% white and only 10% were eligible for free and reduced lunch. This could be the result of many things, such as housing prices- high home prices usually means higher wages to support them- and the average yearly wage between different ethnic and socioeconomic groups.

Our students are at a disadvantage because we have a majority white school. The website Mother Jones claims that “Psychologists, economists, and neuroscientists have done some really exciting research in education in the past 10 years, synthesized in the best-selling book by Paul Tough, How Children Succeed. This research tells us that some of the most important academic, social, and emotional skills—curiosity, complex and flexible thinking, resilience, empathy, gratitude—are not captured by standardized test scores but are keys to a successful and productive life. Other researchers, including Stanford’s Prudence L. Carter, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Linda R. Tropp, and Loyola University of New Orleans’ Robert A. Garda Jr., have found that skills like cross-cultural collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving, effective communication, reduced racial prejudice, and empathy are best fostered in diverse classrooms.” If we want to teach our students the social skills they will need in their adult lives, diversity will be a very important factor. “In 2007, 553 social scientists from across the country signed an amicus brief in support of voluntary school integration policies for a Supreme Court case known as Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District. The brief continues to serve as a treasure trove of some of the most important research in this field, and in its 5-4 decision in favor of integration, the justices concluded that the academic progress of white children is best served in multiracial schools.”

Tahoma is a good school and most kids go onto college. But think about the Kent school district, who ran out of money earlier this year and out of their student count of 27,896, they have 9,665 white students which is 34.7%, and 6,247 Hispanics along with 3,253 black students (Washington State OSPI), many of their students might not go to college. When white students are giving the speeches about Martin Luther King Jr and what he did, that’s when you know something isn’t right.

Race isn’t the only problem in Tahoma. Socioeconomic status is “an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person’s work experience and of an individual’s or family’s economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education, and occupation.” There is almost no socioeconomic diversity at this school, as most students are upper middle class. The Century Foundation states, “Students in integrated schools have higher average test scores. On the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) given to fourth graders in math, for example, low-income students attending more affluent schools scored roughly two years of learning ahead of low-income students in high-poverty schools” (The Century Foundation). Racial diversity isn’t the only factor thats hurting us. Having more upper-middle-class white students isn’t doing us any good and it’s been proven. According to the USNews article about school diversity, “The policy push stems from the fact that segregation keeps too many students from succeeding, and low-income students who attend more affluent schools boost their chances of attending college by almost 70 percent.” I think we should try and bring some other races into the school. We would be increasing the chances of our kids going to college. The Seattle Pi article claims that “The problem is that when schools lack a diverse array of students from different socioeconomic backgrounds, parents may be less likely to get involved and to work with the schools to help them improve.” (SeattlePi, Natalie Smith) Parents are the main reason some students are motivated to succeed. The lack of pressure from parents could come from not having the time because of possibly working two jobs or just trying to scrape enough money to get by. Lack socioeconomic status is hurting Tahoma students just as much as lack of racial diversity is.

To get some other opinions about this problem, I asked Terry Duty, our principle. He has been in the district for 34 years, ever since he got out of college. He claims that he has seen the percentage of minorities in the district raise from about 4% 10 years ago to about 20% now. He says that he thinks there are more economic differences than race, as there are 9% free and reduced lunch eligible students and then students who are very wealthy. Maple Valley’s predominantly white background may stem from its origins. Maple Valley used to be a suburb of Seattle, where there are usually more white people. It was also a logging and mining town, which was a job dominated by blue color, predominately white men at the time. Mr. Duty recognizes the fact that a lack of diversity is hurting may be hurting Tahoma because students are not getting to experience other cultures.

 Tahoma is in need of a change. Our entire school district is lacking socioeconomic and racial diversity and that’s affecting students in ways that nobody realizes.