What Is Growing Up In A Long Beach Essay

When children are born they have no concept of race. From young ages they play with any child, no matter what race. However, growing up you gradually learn racism from older people you are around. From there you learn you should stick to your own people.

In Long Beach, California, the other races do not associate with each other. Growing up they did not have much exposure to any race, but their own. The people of different races segregated themselves, and taught that to their children as being normal. These kids that Mrs. Gruwell has to teach, feel so different from each other. They did not grow up together, and to them that means they do not have anything in common. They refuse to sit by anyone that is not their race, until Mrs. Gruwell brings them together.

The kids at Oxford High do not segregate themselves based on race. They are segregated, but not based on race. Some kids do not associate themselves with others. It is more based on your social status, or what you are interested in. A football player will not have anything to do with a kid on the chess team, or vice versa.

However; Oxford High does a good job of respecting other’s differences. Just because someone is a football player, and someone is a chess player, does not make one better than the other. But, they still would not associate with each other, because they are just different. Race is not a big deal to most students of Oxford High.

So, children do not learn to separate themselves from other races from the beginning. Some do not learn to at all. Sometimes segregation is on something completely different than race, such as: social class, interests, etc. Although, diversity is good for everyone. It helps you learn where others are coming from, and how to sympathize for someone in a different position than