I’ve never been more enraged, hurt or ashamed than I was after reading about METCO in the article “Mountain gives Newton conservatives a voice.” No one has the right to say that someone’s opinion is wrong, but I can say that I strongly disagree with Mountain’s statements, as well as with his daughter's.
I found out that i was accepted into METCO in 1997 and had to choose whether to stay at St. Patrick's Catholic School or to start over at Bowen Elementary School. The choice was easy; at Bowen you didn't have to wear a uniform. There i had Ms. Wong, who helped METCO students understand what made us different and who answered our questions.
At South, during my first semester, I had a METCO advisory, where i could talk with students who could empathize, and not just sympathize, with my experiences. The advisory only lasted a semester, but it left me with someone i could never forget: Ms. Sumner. Her office was always open.
My questions and Ms. Sumner's answers helped me better understand not only the topic at hand but also myself. Ms. Sumner challenged me to be a better student and person and helped me stand up for any opinion i had. She was more than an advisor. She was my friend.
Tom Mountain said that for the past four decades, Boston has sent students to Newton Public schools and paid nothing for it. If Mountain is concerned that our parents aren’t paying to send us to the Newton Public Schools, he should also consider that our parents pay Boston Public Schools taxes while we don't attend schools there. Regardless of where their money is going, our parents are paying to educate us.
If his issue with METCO is “specifically economic,” then he should work on fixing the METCO budget rather than on eliminating the program completely. Newton is one of the least diverse communities I’ve seen, and to trying to eliminate the single program that increases it's diversity, in my opinion, reveals some underlying feelings that don’t need to be touched upon at this very moment.
Since when is it okay for adults to take out their conflicts, personal or political, on children? Children would be the group that truly suffers under Mountain’s idea.
Jenn Mountain, with whom I have no personal issues, also made a few ignorant, disappointing comments in the article. She stated that she remembers learning more about Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks than George Washington and James Madison. She said that multicultural education "is pushed a little too much ... or a lot too much." I don’t know where she went to elementary school, but I know that the only time I learned about King and Parks was during black history month or on MLK day.
The curriculum in Newton definitely focuses on white Americans. We need to put more effort into diversifying the NPS community and its curriculum.
Tom Mountain said that he would like to end METCO in the next four years and that METCO parents would have the option of moving to Newton or enrolling their children in different schools. I for one would not sell my house to buy a house in Newton that would probably not be as nice or as spacious as my current one. Nor would I willingly leave a school with great academics and an environment that is finally accepting me.
Last time I checked, people didn't mind spending $200 on Uggs. Is it too much to spend a little more on the education of someone who is less fortunate? Saying that METCO isn't important enough for funding is the same as saying that I, along with the other Newton METCO students, am not important enough either. What authority do we give people today to put a price on someone's education?
If anyone is going to tell me I am not worth taxpayer dollars, he or she better have a good reason why.
I wake up every morning at 5:30 a.m. to get on the bus, sit through classes that don't cater to my culture or beliefs, feel a slight sense of disapproval, work my behind off, stay after school for sports, get back on the bus, get home at 7:30 p.m. (on a good night), stay up so I can finish my homework and finally get to sleep at 11:30 p.m., only to wake up six hours later to repeat my schedule.
I am trying to dispel negative stereotypes and prejudices made about Black Americans to make the same situation a little easier for the students who come after me. I know why I am a South Lion. Anyone who tries to belittle my life and my purpose to a dollar amount better be prepared for a heated debate.
The problem is that those who feel like Jenn and her father don't have the courage to openly speak their minds, and so these unexpressed thoughts about the METCO program remain an underlying problem. I think the only way to resolve this issue is to put it out in the open.
If I have to be the voice of the entire Newton METCO program, so be it. But I will not be a bystander as someone speaks about trying to destroy the organization that has the most impact in setting me up for a successful future. Mr. Tom Mountain, I would love to see you go up to kindergarten METCO students and explain to them why they are not worth taxpayer money.
Because if an unbiased, unobjectionable kindergärtner can understand your reasoning, then it must be just. After all, children are the future, right? Let's see how far America has truly come in the past 250 years.
People have consistently assumed that METCO is a waste of time and money. Some people don't see the use of it or understand its benefits. So naturally when i saw an article in The Roar in which people stated that METCO wasn't worth the money, i was outraged and confused.
I believe that some people think that METCO students don't take advantage of the opportunity they are given. I also think that some people drew the conclusions that METCO students at South aren't smart and don't do well in their classes. Many people have assumed that i live in Newton - possibly basing there assumptions on the classes i take. After discussing these feelings with Ms. Sumner and the staff of The Roar, i decided i would write opinions article. Without METCO, i wouldn't be the same person i am today. I can't imagine life without METCO.
Why would i sit back and watch another student be denied the chance to grow into something new, something better than i ever thought possible? I know i have.
My life is a lesson in diversity, and i wouldn't have it any other way. I don't think words would ever do my emotions for METCO justice.
