Beating racial barriers; many students report few changes, but some are making strides

It's just a regular day at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, one of the most diverse schools in the Bay Area. In classrooms, students of all ethnic backgrounds mix together.

But as soon as the lunch bell rings, things change. Suddenly the Asian students are congregating at one lunch table, the African-American students at another, white students in yet another area.

It has been well over 50 years since the historical Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case took place. The Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal institutions were inherently unequal, and from that moment on the world of education has become more and more diverse.

However, a closer look at high schools across the Bay Area and the nation shows that even though many improvements have been made in terms of integrating different cultures, students still tend to group themselves socially by race.

According to a study of 638 students conducted by Stanford University Assistant Professor Anthony Antonio, more than 90 percent of students acknowledged that, while on campus, students predominantly cluster around individuals who are similar to themselves.

Irmina Gawlas, 17, said that at Monta Vista, students tend to group themselves into small social circles, often along racial lines.

"At my school, all the Asian people hang out with Asian people, and Caucasian people with Caucasians, and everyone else with their own race," Irmina said.

Educators see this as a natural occurrence.

"Students do tend to associate with people of the same race, but it is simply because everyone likes to be with people who they have a lot in common with," said Sandy Prairie, vice principal of Mission San Jose High School.

Andrea Wong, a 15-year-old incoming junior at Gunn High School in Palo Alto who is Chinese, feels that in today's schools, being the same race allows students to reach a comfort zone.

"I can relate to other Chinese people in a lot of ways," she said. "Even just language-wise, we can tell each other jokes in Chinese and just do things I can't do with other types of people."

Psychologist Beverly Daniel Tatum said in her book "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" that the desire to form racial cliques can be traced to the brain. She said racial grouping is simply a developmental process students undergo in response to an environmental stressor, racism.

However, Prairie and Andrea both agree that there is a fine line between trying to be comfortable and creating animosity between people of different races. Being shut out of a group, whether because of your race or other factors, is hurtful.

Ameya Ananth, 17, a student at Lynbrook High School, doesn't like it when students isolate themselves into racial groups. Ameya remembered a time when she was left out of a study group because she wasn't part of the clique. She thinks it might have been because she was a different race.

Some people are fighting to break down racial barriers. Mike Seppi established the Diversity Awareness Partnership with the idea of breaking down stereotypes.

While Seppi said he does believe that "it's a natural tendency to associate with someone that is like you because it helps alleviate the insecurity of being judged by others," he added that "many teenagers are developing a lot of prejudice, which is a big problem." The DAP's mission is to show the value of diversity, and eliminate obstacles that can divide communities.

Matt Pogue, a 17-year-old Campbell resident, said he believes that high schools share some of the blame for racial segregation that exists on campuses.

"A lot of the segregation on campuses has to do with the schools and society, because of their hypocrisy," he said. "The school administrators always say that segregation is bad, but then they do nothing to stop it, which is kind of like they are promoting it."

Other students have different experiences in their high school. Nancy Lee, 20, a junior at the University of California-San Diego, recalled a program at Palo Alto High School designed to promote interaction between students from different neighborhoods, including East Palo Alto.

Regardless of a school's attempts to strengthen the relationship between different groups of people, eventually the burden falls on individuals.

Chanukya Dasari, 17, a senior from Mission San Jose, is a firm believer in interracial interactions.

While he acknowledges that the easy way out is to interact with people of the same ethnicity only, he said just a little bit of effort can produce amazing results.

"I'm Indian. I hang out with a lot of Indians because they know where I'm coming from and they share the same family backgrounds, so we have a lot in common," said Chanukya, who is vice president of Mission San Jose High's Black Student Union. "But on the other hand, I also make an effort to talk to people of other races, because I have a lot in common with those people too. To break down social barriers, you just need to realize that everybody has something in common, so there is something you can relate to with other people."