Small Towns Problems Can Have Big Impact

Small Towns Problems Can Have Big Impact Living in a small Nebraskan town we do not have to face many of the life issues that people in large cities face such as pollution, high crime rates and other things. The one thing that seems to pervade everywhere without little regard to town size is discrimination. Racial discrimination in a small town can be even more devastating than in a big city for several reasons. When it happens in a small town high school it can be extremely serious.

Discrimination whether it is about race or about gender is always a volatile subject. Those who feel they are victims blame the perpetrators and those who stand accused insist they didn't do it. In a small town high school it can be particularly serious because of the very nature of small town living. When one lives in a small town one general grows up knowing everybody in town. We might play soccer with the butcher's daughter, and the police chief might be the uncle of our best friend.

It is a tight knit community that comes together for disasters as well as celebrations. A small town has very little outside influence therefore events at the local high school become entertainment for the entire town. Sporting events, band competitions and school fairs are all-inclusive in their nature and attract most of the population at one time or another. When discrimination is allowed to raise its ugly head in a small school it can ripple throughout the entire town.

When a black student recently tried for a job in town he was turned down and told that there were no openings, yet a white boy got the same job the following week. When asked why he was turned down he was told that his references did not check out. One of his friends told him that he heard a teacher was a racist, and the black student had placed that teacher on the application as a reference.

Wondering what was said the black student asked the teacher and the teacher replied that he had told the truth. While the boy was an okay student he was not always as "ambitious " as the other students. This was hurtful to the student as he had a 4.0 average. The following week a black basketball player on the high school team missed a shot and the N word was shouted from the stands. Many of the town residents were at that game and it was heard by most in the areas.

The next day when the student who missed the shot went to school it was very hard. Some students avoided him all together because they were embarrassed that they had witnessed his humiliation. They avoided his eyes, ignored him in class and generally speaking he became instantly invisible. The few students who had been racist but had kept it to themselves delighted in tormenting the student in the halls and snickering when he walked through the campus.

Naturally he told his friends and by the end of the day the school was firmly divided into them and us. The school is small and the parents began to draw sides when their children came home with their perception of what happened. Discrimination grows like a cancer and it was not long before many of the minority students began to keep to themselves and gather in a group each break. It is important for students to work together to build a solid high school atmosphere.

In a small town school it is even more important because there are very few students to draw from when it comes to filling positions in activities. If discrimination is allowed to occur the breakdown of things like the band, the sports teams and the extra curricular activities can be devastating and total in their damage. Once it is allowed to start small town schools do not always have the funding to combat it through programs that city schools can and do implement.

A small town atmosphere can be both cozy and stifling. Any time a small town high school begins to practice discrimination the students on the receiving end have nowhere to go for help or relief, while.