by Jessica Allen

The Metropolitan Council Of Opportunity (METCO) is a program that buses inner city students of color to predominantly white, suburban towns in Massachusetts. The program was created in 1966 in the midst of the civil rights movement, “to increase the diversity and reduce the racial isolation... so that... students from different backgrounds can learn from each other in meaningful ways... in an integrated public school setting,” according to its web site. The problem that has arisen from this program is the achievement gap between resident students and Boston students.
Resident students on average have significantly higher grades than those of METCO students. This trend has remained true at Lincoln-Sudbury. When METCO students and resident students enter L-S they generally start off with the same GPA, but as the years pass from 9th to 12th grade the gap significantly increases.
Based on my observations of the L-S community, one of the main reasons this gap exists is the lack of integration between resident students and METCO students. L-S makes minimal accommodations for METCO students to be involved in extracurricular activities. METCO students rarely get involved in activities other than sports at school, even though there is a late bus to take them home. Resident students scarcely make the effort to get to know Boston students as individuals outside of the classroom. This could be a key reason as to why METCO students seldom get involved in activities: they have no connection with the resident students. There are two Senior spots: one for the METCO students and one for resident students. Sadly, it is unusual to see resident students hanging out in the METCO office. People sometimes cross that boundary, but why is there one in the first place?
All of these boundaries make it hard for METCO students to feel comfortable in a community that is not their own. METCO students make sacrifices to go to school here. They wake up at five every morning, they travel at least 45 minutes to and from school, and they enter a community that is much different from their own, made up of people who don’t look like them. Why do they do it? They do it because they know that being here is better than going to a Boston Public School. Here, they have opportunities that they would not have in a Boston Public School. But then to be in a community that you have to fight to be a part of is discouraging. This feeling of discouragement is just as strong as the drive to succeed, and it is hard to overcome. The METCO students who can’t overcome that feeling, walk into a classroom uncomfortable with their surroundings and already questioning why they are there. This is no way to enter a classroom. We as a community need to be more accountable and supportive of these students. By not doing so we miss out on our opportunity to learn about people who have different life experiences from our own. If we can send money to people who need help on the other side of the globe, we can at least offer support to the person sitting next to us in the classroom.