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I think it's easier to educate youself as an adult in the liberal arts than it is to reverse years of bias and monochromatic perspective.  I get that you're calling me out on some perhaps Pollyanna-esque, idealistic hopes about diversity and tolerance, but I would like to think that the situation you describe in your own childhood education could be different, if the community wanted and worked for it to be so.

posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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I am a mother of 2 small children who attend Beach School in the immersion program.  There is a discussion going on among that community in which there is STRONG support to have immersion students feed into Jefferson along with the rest of Beach students.  (Currently they feed into a different high school.)  I am among those who whole-heartedly support this move.  I grew up in Idaho, and, although I don't want to be an Idaho-basher, I have no illusions about the gap in my "culttural" education - if you aren't exposed to a diverse, colorful community as a young child, it is very difficult to quiet the voices in your head of mis-trust, confusion and general lack of understanding of other cultures - as hard as you try, as an adult.  Almost more than strong academics, I wish for my children what I didn't get - an education in tolerance, in celebration of differences, and an understanding of all kinds of people and their various cultural perspectives.  If Jefferson is closed, the message to the community is that Portland does not favor this kind of education; that it doesn't value the diversity that this neighborhood brings, and the strengths that lie within that diversity.  I think it would be a disasterous thing - and a pointed, ugly message to the community - to close Jefferson High School.    - Tristan Trotter, speeech-language pathologist, PPS

posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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