Central Valley High School In The 21st Century

High school in the 21st century is a lot different than it was for people in generations older than us (Our parents, their parents etc). Today we go to school with many different races/ethnicities, religions, political affiliation, and genders/ sexuality are present here at Central Valley High School in the 21st century.

Here at Central Valley we have many different races/ethnicities. Many people think that race and ethnicity is the same but it isn´t theyŕe very different. Race is the category of people who sare inherited physical characteristics and who are perceived by others as being a distinct group, while ethnicity is a set of cultural characteristics that distinguishes one group from another group. At Central Valley there are many

different races that attend. In the past we’ve had a group called MECHA which was a group where students can go and feel comfortable around others who are the same race or similar to them. When you walk through the doors at Central Valley you often immediately see the different races and how they stand out. Going on to the topic of ethnicity, as a bear community we have many different cultures here. One of which is the group of students from the Marshall Islands. One of my friends has pointed out to me that they’re shorter than the rest of the students, they speak really fast and in their language they really don’t use English that often. Those cultural characteristics that I just mentioned set them apart from the other groups. Many individuals believe that once you walk through the doors you notice that Central Valley is very accepting (at times). We accept many different individuals. Their race and ethnicity do not seem to matter to the student here at the school. Although I’ve seen people make fun of individuals that didn’t look them or act like them. Not everyone that walks through the doors at Central Valley are non-judgemental. Students judge people by the first look they don’t always take the time to get to know them, but if you do the students story is much more interesting than you anticipated. When my mother grandmother was in highschool it wasn’t accepted for African Americans to go to school with the white students. She didn’t go to school with many individuals of different races and ethnicities. It wasn’t the norm. It wasn’t accepted. They were seen as being different from her and they were judged for the color of the skin or the cultural characteristics.