Throughout learning about the history of segregation and its effects, I was surprised to learn how blatant and direct racism was in the housing market. Those loan brokers would outright not give loans to black people and people from other minorities. that being said, I already knew that schools today were still segregated because of my own experiences. I was raised in the suburbs in the midst of my parent's divorce, meaning I moved around a lot. However, my mom did whatever she could to keep my brother and me in the "best" most competitive schools. This meant that even though I went to three different elementary schools, they all led back to the same middle and high school. They were all also predominantly white, with my middle school class likely having over 60 percent, white students. This changed, however, when I went to a different high school than my brother. Even though this school was in the same district and only 30 minutes away from my house as opposed to my brother's 15-minute drive, the neighborhoods surrounding it and the people were drastically different. Instead of the big houses with gates around their yards, there were houses, some of which looked like they were about to crumble, and little to no gates to get into the neighborhoods. The majority of students were in minority groups, and those that weren't were probably like me, who attended one of the three magnet schools hosted on this campus. This was because the student rate of enrolment, without the magnet schools, wasn't enough to keep the doors open. Without these magnet schools, the kids that lived right across the street might have had to make a 15-minute walk to the next closest high school. A school that itself had two magnet programs to keep its doors open. All this to say, while legal school segregation ended decades ago, its effects and the effects of racism are still felt. Without proper amending of laws and practices, these effects will continue to affect all students' education and prejudices.
