The Intersectionality of Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality in High School

High school is a very complex and high stress place, where race, class, gender and sexuality operate concurrently and usually against you if you are in a minority.

Race is an important factor in the United States education system. Although the United States is seen as a cultural melting pot, in the education system, there are noticeable difference between races and their expectations. African American and Hispanic males are more likely than anyone else to be placed in special education or slow learner classes. The people placed in special education classes may not actually have a learning disability, but because of racial prejudice, many school-aged students who fall into this category are in slow to moderate learning classes.

No matter what school they attend, Asian students are expected to have extraordinary academic talent and be overzealous about learning. If a student has an Asian background, they are more likely placed in advanced courses.

In co-educational classrooms, studies have shown that males receive more attention than females do. Males are more often encouraged in mathematics and sciences. Due to the fact that many professions disproportionately made up of one gender, teachers are more likely to encourage their male students to become a doctor and the female student to be a nurse.

Males are also allotted a larger level of tolerance from teachers. Many teachers will chastise their young ladies about talking out in class, for being too loud, and for being too playful. Teachers in most elementary schools and some middle school grade levels expect their young male students to act out but their female students are expected to have better self-control.

Although females are given less academic attention, more young girls than young boys are likely to sign up for advanced placement courses. Females are also less likely than males to be placed in slow learner courses. Even with female students outshining male students most of the time, less emphasis, period, is placed on the education of women.

Class background plays the most prominent role in deciding the quality of the school that a student will attend. Students from upper middle class and upper class backgrounds can be afforded the best high school education, public or private. Private schools are usually costly and lower middle class and lower class families cannot afford them for their children. Most private schools do not offer scholarships and have testing and applications before a student are accepted, making the schools impenetrable for lower classes. Public schools in rich areas are more finely furnished, with nice buildings, a large selection of teachers, and the newest technological equipment. Schools located in rich areas, where the school is funded by hefty property taxes, are usually strictly zoned so children outside of the living area are unable to attend.

Schools in middle class areas do not have as much technology, as upper class areas, nor are the buildings as finely taken care of, but usually education is usually of a normal government set standard. Lower class students can be zoned into some different in to middle class schools by exemptions so middle class schools show a wide array of students from all classes.

Lower class students usually go to school in their neighborhoods, in buildings that are in dilapidated conditions. The school grounds in poverty areas are usually unkempt and are sometimes simple buildings with few rooms instead of the complex, multi room, and multi floor schools seen in areas with more money. Lower class students have less technology in their school buildings than middle class and upper class students. Lower class schools may have one small computer lab for the entire schools where as the majority of middle class schools have a computer in each classroom and several computer labs. Lower class areas cannot afford to pay competitively for teachers, so the best teachers do not usually come to these areas. Lower class areas sometimes have to depend on programs, such as Teach for America, who send unlicensed teachers whom have just graduated from undergrad to teach students. The government does not do much for lower class schools, especially lower class schools located in rural areas.

High school is a pressure pit, and people who do not fit into the strict social norms of youth culture can be outcast. Sexuality is one of the main factors used to outcast students in high school. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), are discriminate against for not conforming to the societal norm in the United States and are the target of much teasing and discrimination. Some people believe LGBT students are going through a phase that they will get over and someday become straight, others believe that LGBT students are just trying to be defiant and rebel against society. LGBT student who are "out" about their sexuality face harassment, threats, and assault all of the time. Some close-minded students, both male and female, are more inclined to believe that any verbal or physical communication from an LGBT student means that they are approaching them in a romantic manner, even though the opposite may to be true. LGBT students' environment is disrupted by many factors throughout the day, hindering their learning process.

Although race, class, gender and sexuality impact high schools students separately, it is clear that each of these factors intersect to create different experiences for different peoples.

Many Black students live in middle class or poverty conditions, so they do not have access to the same education as most White middle class and upper middle class students. Students predominantly Black areas are more likely to go to schools that are under funded and have little technology. This is a prime example of race and class intersecting.

Gay males students in high school are more discriminated against than lesbian female students. Males see lesbian females as erotic because of the hyper masculinity factor, which tells males that they can have two females instead of one. Since males are the most dominant group in U.S. society, males who are not as masculine as what the average male should be, or males who do not desire females in a romantic way are seen as soft, and effeminate. Gay males, therefore, are discriminated against on a larger scale than lesbians.

After high school, no matter the students' race, class, gender, or sexuality, students are expected to enter college and further their education. Some do not realize just how hard this dream is for students, who are of a lower class, minority students whose family members have never gone to college, and female students who believe they are expected to get married and raise a family. Many different factors are engaged in determining a student's academic career from high school on. The determinations of these factors are not necessarily hard work and perseverance as teachers first tell us, but race, class, gender and sexuality play the significant role in the determination of our futures.