Location Matters: The Work Towards Equal Education in Oberlin High School, Ohio

Project Title

Location Matters: The Work Towards Equal Education in Oberlin High School, Ohio

Faculty Mentor(s)

Project Description

Project Description: 

My research project for Comparative American Studies (CAST) honors focuses on the work towards equal education in Oberlin High School (OHS), Ohio. As a person from Oberlin, I have long been aware of Oberlin’s unique commitment to equality that has been established from its founding. When I was a student at OHS, I became interested as to why, despite Oberlin’s commitment to equality, social inequalities still persist in OHS. The goal of my research is to explore these ideas through interviews with current staff/teachers at OHS and oral histories with OHS graduates. In my research, I found that larger structural factors like state funding along with in-school organizational structures like tracking and discipline work together to impact educational opportunities for OHS students. I have also found that even in places like Oberlin that have the best of intentions, histories of oppression, discrimination, and segregation still remain ingrained in our institutions, including in our schools. By investigating this topic, I have sought to understand why the achievement gap persists in high schools across the U.S., in order to work towards more equal education at OHS and beyond.
 

Why is your research important?

My research is important to understanding why small public schools like OHS continue to face structural inequalities. Understanding achievement gaps can help us work to change how the structural factors like state funding and the in-school organizational structures like tracking and discipline can contribute to inequality. Educational inequalities can have lasting impacts that affect students’ lives after high school including in attendance to higher education.
 

What does the process of doing your research look like?
At the start of my research, I found many secondary sources in American studies and Education studies that provided me with knowledge about how race, class, gender, and place intersect to affect educational inequality. From there, I began interviewing OHS staff/teachers and conducting oral histories with OHS graduates. My final step to my research was to connect and synthesize all of this knowledge by supplementing the knowledge from interviews and oral histories with the research I found from secondary sources.

What knowledge has your research contributed to your field?

My findings so far indicate that there are many contributing factors to inequalities in high schools. Many OHS staff/teachers and graduates shared that a lack of school funding causes inequalities in the school. They also mentioned the organizational factors in OHS like tracking and discipline which may be contributing to the racialized achievement gap in the school. However, participants also shared that a commitment to equality remains in OHS, and the first step towards change is to start having more conversations about social inequalities. 
 

In what ways have you showcased your research thus far?

I showcased my research through writing an 80 page paper for my honors thesis. On April 29th, my fellow CAST honors-mates and I presented our research findings in a public presentation for the college and community of Oberlin.

How did you get involved in research? What drove you to seek out research experiences in college?

I got involved in the CAST honors project during my third year of college when I decided that I wanted to complete a year-long research project for my capstone. I have always been really interested in interviews and oral histories as research methods that prioritize the knowledge that comes from people’s lived experiences. I knew that by doing this research project I would have the chance to listen and learn from the people in the community I was researching.
 

What is your favorite aspect of the research process?

Through interviews with OHS staff/teachers and oral histories with OHS graduates, I gained a lot of different knowledge from a variety of perspectives. I was also able to learn a lot about the history of Oberlin through resources I found from the Oberlin College Archives and the Oberlin Heritage Center. Overall, this project gave me the chance to feel connected to my community, and hopefully my research will allow me to give back to the community of Oberlin.
 

How has working with your mentor impacted the development of your research project? How has it impacted you as a researcher?
My thesis advisor and academic advisor Professor Gina Perez has provided me with tremendous support in my research. Although this has been an independent research project, she has guided me through this process by providing me with important resources, writing and research advice, and helping with talking through the research process. The prior research conducted by Professor Perez using ethnography and interviews has inspired me to use a similar approach that prioritizes lived experiences.

How has the research you’ve conducted contributed to your professional or academic development?  

This research project has taught me a lot of valuable skills in conducting research and writing an extended research paper. I had a lot of worries about taking on such a large time commitment during my senior year, but ultimately it was completely worth it. Learning how to conduct interviews and oral histories and then synthesize information into an extended thesis are skills I can use in graduate school programs and potential careers in the humanities.
 

What advice would you give to a younger student wanting to get involved in research in your field?

 

I would tell younger students interested in conducting research or completing an honors project that they should never let fears or doubts stop them from accomplishing their goals. I had many doubts before applying to CAST honors that it would be too difficult to conduct a year long research project and write an extended research paper. I pushed past my doubts, which ultimately gave me the opportunity to complete research that is extremely meaningful to me and will hopefully have a positive impact on the community of Oberlin.