A very different mix of ethnicity

Bonsall Union has a district charter school called Vivian Banks Charter School. The school is located on the church grounds of the Pala Mission nearby the Pala Casino on the Pala Indian Reservation. Most of the children in the school are Indian and the rest are Hispanics. There are only around 100 students enrolled in grades kindergarten through fifth, test scores are low, but it is a happy place to go to school.

I had an interesting conversation with the teachers the other day. We began talking about the racial mix at the school. When the students leave the fifth grade and go to the middle school, they become a part of a very different mix of ethnicity. We have observed confusion from the students about how they should act and socialize. During a period of their life when they are the most confused about their identity and self-worth, we throw them into a melting pot of different races and expect them to figure out how to get along.

Or is it that we start them with the wrong message of race? Should we begin their career in school with a more balanced mixture of race so that when they reach the middle school there is no violent collision of confused thought and action? Vivian Banks began with good intentions of providing a school for the children on the reservation that is close in proximity and culture. Perhaps now that we see the result of these good intentions, we should reexamine the reasons for this school and make sure we are doing right by our children.