Katie Huselton

Professor Morrell
EDUC 275 Personal Education Autobiography
9/27/15
No matter what people argue, oppression can be found almost
anywhere. While it comes in varying degrees, even the slightest bit can
have extremely negative effects. I grew up in a small town in the
mountains of Colorado; the closest major cities are at least a threehour drive away. While I did not so much realize it growing up, I see
now that I truly did grow up in a bubble. I did not experience much
diversity, I only knew what was going on in the rest of the country and
world through news, and often did not understand much of this news
because I had never experienced anything like that. One thing I did
experience, though, was oppression, oppression of the minorities that
did not fit in with the predominately white population. Looking back on
my schooling this way is something that I have never thought to do,
but now that I am I can see evidence of racism, ableism, linguicism,
and many more oppressive behaviors that existed. While I was
exposed to many of these behaviors at school in my childhood and
adolescence, my parents did not tolerate any of them. I can see that
they kept my brother and I from embodying those behaviors and
taught us to accept and treat all people equally.

As I previously mentioned, my hometown is predominately white,

and the majority of the people are of middle to high socio-economic
class. For lack of a better explanation, most of the families are what
you would expect to see in the movies: a big, beautiful home, loving
and successful mother and father, a few adoring and smart kids, and a
happy life. While this was not necessarily always the case, it was very
common. And what was expected. Overall, my family fit in with the
others, although we were not of the same socio-economic status; we
would definitely be described as working class. But my brother and I
still had the same opportunities as the other local kids.
Childhood Experiences:
I never felt that I did not fit in at school; I was one of many little
blonde girls. I had a few Asian and Mexican students in my classes as a
young child, but very few. I cannot say that my school was ever
inherently racist, but it is difficult for children to learn to be accepting
with such a homogeneous population.
Unfortunately, I do not recall a lot from my elementary years, but
as I reached middle school, I began to really see some of the problems
and my way of thinking began to change. The first day of seventh
grade, I remember a boy in a wheelchair entered the classroom. I had
never known anyone my age in a wheelchair, but I had no problem
with him. He was an authentically nice kid, but I began to notice that
other students treated him differently. My hometown is known for its

athletics, from skiing to soccer to football to tennis, it is never-ending.

That is something that everyone does, every one of us played soccer
when we were five and started skiing when we were three, and this is
how we formed connections and friendships. I could see that this boy
felt left out and distant almost immediately. He was in our school
through the rest of that first semester, and then I never saw him again.
I do not know why he moved away, but I can guess that it could have
been because of the obvious ableism that he had experienced. Looking
back, I wish I would have acted differently toward him and talked to
him more about his interests, but at the time I did not realize it.
While I was in middle school, the Mexican population began to
increase in town, and many of the new people resided in a trailer park
that is on the same side of town as the house I grew up in. Our school
bus began picking up their neighborhood along with ours, and this is
the most I have ever experienced racism and something that I will
remember for the rest of my life. There was absolutely segregation
between the Hispanic students and the white students. We did not sit
with the Hispanic students, nor even try to talk with them to see if we
had anything in common, we just assumed we did not. Students from
my neighborhood often said things that were derogatory and racist. I
never said any of these things, but I was just as much at fault because
I stood by and let it happen.
Adolescence:

As I reached high school, I stopped riding the school bus. But I

continued to see the same behaviors happening at school. I cannot
believe this is true and I hate to say it, but our high school cafeteria
had a socially determined Mexican corner. I heard so many of my
friends make excuses like, Well, they choose to sit over there, or,
They never try to talk to us, so why should we try to talk to them?
But maybe the reason they did not talk to us and chose to sit there was
because we made them feel unwelcome and in a way, unsatisfactory
and inferior. And once again, I stood by and did absolutely nothing,
something I look back on and sincerely regret.
Some of my high school teachers even showed some of this
same racist behavior as well as linguicism. The Mexican students were
often not given the same treatment and opportunities that the rest of
the students got from the teachers. Athletics still played a big role, and
teachers often favored the athletes in their classes, who were very
rarely the Hispanic students. They were treated differently because
they did not fit the majority, and were never given the chance to. I
once heard one of my teachers say about a new Hispanic student who
had just moved there from Mexico, She should not be able to come to
school until she can speak English. I could not believe what I had
heard; it was appalling to me that this teacher could even think
something like this. As a now aspiring teacher, my goal is to teach to

the best of my ability to every student that I cross paths with, not to
pick and choose whom I want to teach.
Adulthood:
As I just now am entering the early years of my adulthood, I look
back at my previous education as something that taught me a lot, not
only academically but also personally and professionally. My schools
did a phenomenal job of teaching history from different perspectives
and taught in a way that seemed to be very accepting and open. While
that was great, there was still a lot of oppressive behavior in the
environment. And without the behavior lining up with the academics,
the academics did not mean nearly as much.
I have learned vast amounts through the experiences that I had
in my childhood and adolescence, but am excited to be in a new place
that is larger and more diverse to continue learning about people and
the interactions between them.

Diversity:
People often say that being different is a positive thing, and I
agree. But being treated differently is not. The oppression that
occurred throughout my schooling was no doubt due to privilege and
power: something that the majority of students thought they had over
the minorities. Our one public school system supported the entire

community, which made class differences obvious and sometimes

detrimental. It infuriates me that something as materialistic as money
can drive people away from each other and drive some to be cruel, but
that is what happened. The majority of the school came from wealthy
families, which led them to believe they had power over students of
lower socioeconomic statuses. Overall, I had a very good education,
but now realize that the sometimes hostile environment made it that
much more difficult to learn, and for many probably impossible.
Schools should not only work to continuously improve the academics
and content, but also to improve the environment. Both are equally
important and influential in students educations.
When I think of people that had an immense impact on me and
were involved in the development of my interest in teaching, two
people come to mind. The first is a teacher that I had all four years of
high school. She was a social sciences teacher, but also my homeroom
teacher. She told us from our very first day of high school that if we
ever needed anything that we could come to her for help: help with
math homework, Spanish homework, social problems, family problems,
relationship problems, or even just for a hug. She was a phenomenal
teacher with effective teaching strategies that were engaging and
interesting. But she was also a friend to every one of her students.
Something that I believe every teacher should be. If a teacher does not
know what is going on in the students lives or anything about the

students, one cannot properly teach them. The other person who had a
great impact on my goals and on me is my father. He is encouraging,
accepting, and supportive. He has always said that he knew since I was
little that I was meant to help people, and he was right. As an
electrician, he is one of the furthest things from a teacher, but still has
taught me many qualities that a teacher should possess in the process
of raising me. When I am teaching, I hope to be accepting,
encouraging, honest, supportive, and compassionate: all of which I
learned from my dad.
In looking back on my education thus far, I see that there have
been many flaws and experiences that were not right, but I still have a
very positive view of it. I was lucky enough to have gotten a great
education and to have learned and grown from the negative
experiences. My history in schools has taught me respectable and
damaging qualities in teachers, all of which I will incorporate or avoid
as a future teacher.