Gated Community – Access Denied (PART I)
By Quetzal Mama • August 15, 2014
Gated
Community – Access Denied
Roxanne Ocampo 2014
“Ella esta muy lista.” This was a phrase
Meysel’s mother frequently overheard as observers commented on her child. Indeed, Meysel was “muy lista” – a highly inquisitive and bright child. Meysel exhibited all of the signs of a gifted
child. She walked at 7 months and was
reading chapter books by the time she was three years old. She possessed an extensive vocabulary well before
her first birthday – her first word being “up.”
That first word would define the direction of her intellectual growth
for the next few decades.
Well
before Meysel reached kindergarten, she would ask her mother profound questions
like, “How come we can we feel the wind
but cannot see it?” On the day of
her assessment for kindergarten, five year old Meysel calmly walked out of the
test room early, and declared to her mother in a matter of fact tone: “Yep, I passed.” In the first grade she became intrigued with
the solar system and universe and told her mother that she wished to become a
physicist. She felt Cornell University
might be the place for her one day.
Naturally, her mother bought her a Cornell pennant and hung it in her
room.
In
the 6th grade, Meysel took an algebra book off the shelf of her
teacher’s classroom. For the next
several months, Meysel taught herself Algebra.
As casually as she stood up and began walking at 7 months, she walked
into the kitchen and declared to her mother, “I know algebra. I’m ready to take
a test.” She asked her mother to
schedule an exam at the District so she could challenge a year’s worth of
algebra curriculum. She took that exam,
and yes – she passed. The following year
she was bussed to the local high school as a middle grade student, and
ultimately completed both AB and BC sections of AP Calculus.
Throughout
her four years in high school, Meysel took 10 AP classes, received national academic
awards, and each year conducted scientific research at nationally renowned
institutions like Stanford University. We
are not surprised to learn at 17 years of age Meysel’s research was published
and presented at the American Academy of Neurology. Finally, Meysel graduated with a perfect 5.0
as Valedictorian of her graduating class of over 750 students. Claro
que si, she passed.
What
happened to Meysel after high school?
She received offers of admission from all of the Ivies, and highly
selective colleges like Stanford, Berkeley, and Johns Hopkins. Today she is a senior at Harvard on a full
merit scholarship, studying Neurobiology.
If you didn’t know about Meysel’s transition from elementary school
to college, you would assume her academic journey flowed smoothly. You might also assume school administrators recognized
her talent and rewarded her based on demonstrated merit. But, something happened to Meysel when she
was in the first grade – something that could have changed the outcome of this
bright young scholar. As a first grader
at a predominantly white elementary school, Meysel “flunked” the GATE exam
administered by her public school District.
Meysel was the only Latina in the entire K-5 school site. However, in her 1st grade
classroom there was another brown student – a wiry, bespectacled, quiet
Filipina student named Angelica.
Angelica was equally gifted and at 6 years of age declared her intention
to become a Paleontologist. Angelica and
Meysel were nerdy kids, full of intellectual curiosity. They were both fluid learners, and both
scored in the top 99th percentile on their standardized exams. Their verbal and cognitive skills were
obvious to any observer. Both were
voracious readers, plowing through high school level books. They also had another commonality: they both took the District GATE test on the
same day, and they both “failed.”
Their commonalities ended on that spring day of GATE testing,
however. Meysel ended up at Harvard. Angelica ended up at a non-traditional high
school without college prospects. How
did these two students, equally bright with common aspirations, have such polar
outcomes? To understand this phenomenon,
we need to look at their moms.
Angelica’s mom held a high degree of respect for teachers and
school administrators. As a first
generation immigrant from the Philippines, she was not comfortable challenging
administrators or advocating aggressively on behalf of her daughter. Although education was a top priority, highly
valued in her family, Angelica’s mom accepted the administrator’s decision as
valid, appropriate, and consequently – definitive. When Angelica’s mom was notified of her
student’s GATE exam results, she was also invited to a meeting to discuss results. Meysel’s mom asked Angelica’s mom to join her
at this meeting. Seemingly embarrassed, Angelica’s
mom explained she respected their decision and therefore would not attend. Although Angelica’s mom knew her daughter was
highly intelligent, the moment the GATE exam process labelled her daughter “not
smart enough,” seemed to dictate her future academic performance.
Meysel’s mom didn't accept the District’s decision. Instead, she eagerly attended the meeting and
asked a lot of questions. She brought
copies of information she printed from the California Department of Education
website on GATE criteria, Meysel’s STAR test scores, as well as copies of
literature she received from the District.
She challenged the administrator by citing how the information she held
in her hand contradicted the information she received in the disqualification
letter. She made phone calls and
vigilantly challenged the decision. Ultimately,
the District held firm and Meysel was not
admitted to their program. However, we
know from reading Meysel’s history that the GATE incident did not derail her
high academic aspirations. How come?
What did Meysel’s mom do to beat the odds? Read the next
blog article where I will introduce you to a powerful concept: Mama ManeuveringTM!