Miami is a very different city from other cities in the United States. Its majority-minority of Hispanics create a unique culture that doesn't compare to other southern cities. According to the 1999 and 2019 MDCPS Membership charts, the number of Hispanics has doubled since 1991, while both the population of whites and blacks have decreased. Unfortunately, this raises the question,
"Where does systematic racism come from?"
Systematic racism is the oppression of minorities not by personal disdain (most of the time) but by unjust systematic institutions. Every time there is a set system in the United States, some social group is on top and another in the bottom. In the case of the educational system, it isn't a race being oppressed for being a member of that race alone but because they might be a member of a particular socio-economic group, leading to their oppression because of economic status. A status populated by minorities.
While researching to prove that systematic racism was still prevalent in Miami-Dade schools I realized that the root wasn't a dislike for minorities, instead, it was the class difference in communities that creates the discrimination in public schools we see today. Wealthy communities can displace spots previously given to students from low-income families by buying seats or creating new charter schools that only accept students that are residents of those communities.
The solution is to remove school zoning laws and create legislation preventing communities from buying seats in public schools. This would make it so that everyone with the required educational standard could apply to a school. That was the point of MAST Academy until a new $9 million deal was struck that would give the school a new building in exchange for a middle school and a Cambridge high school program almost exclusively for
Key Biscayne residents. In his article, Michael E. Miller discusses how this deal was unfair to the students that actually worked hard to attend and he believes that
"School segregation comes second hand to school districts and neighborhoods with more money."
When I tried applying to MAST Academy in the 8th grade I originally applied for the Cambridge Program because I knew it would give me better opportunities
upon graduation. After meeting with the admissions officer, she quickly told me that I would have a difficult time getting accepted because Key Biscayne residents have priority. The addition of this new program reduced MAST Academy's population of poor students by 50% and black students by 70% percent.
You can clearly see how the addition of programs that give a free seat to residents of certain zones can have an effect on diversity but unfortunately, that isn't the only thing that is affected. In an anonymous survey of MAST Academy Seniors, there seems to be a general agreement that the Key Biscayne "sell-out" has affected more than just the demographic. 11 students were surveyed and out of those 11 students, 10 said that there exists some form of racism in the school. 7 out of the 11 students say that change in demographics affected the quality of education. Kyra Gurney writes about how schools like MAST are displacing students through their addition of special, restrictive programs. In the case of the Aventura community, the creation of a new charter school is what will likely lead to the displacement of high-income students. This charter will take away students from affluent families that currently go to a local public school called Krop. These students bring with them the resources and donations of their parents. Replacing these students will negatively affect the quality of education at Krop. Even more worrisome is the fact that this new charter school is giving priority to Aventura residents. Students from other communities have little to no chance of being accepted which creates a huge gap in the quality of education students are receiving and it correlates with the wealth status of their parents.
After several interviews with teachers that have seen the cultural shift at MAST Academy, I received mixed ideas on what to do to solve the issue. Some teachers believe that the only way to create a culturally diverse school is to go back to quotas, kick out those students whose grades have gone below the requirement and replace those students with students that do meet said requirements. Some believe that the solution lies with creating a more politically correct environment inside the school. I think it is the student body's job to express their disapproval of current practices of the educational system and take it to the school board. Not as a rant but with realistic ideas on how to solve systematic racism. Ideas that can be used as a framework for other school districts that might be suffering from the same problems and can be built upon in the future.