Introducing the Neighborhood Effect

Being a Latina who was raised by two working-class parents in Los Angeles County, I witnessed the consequences of living in one of its low-income neighborhoods firsthand. I will never forget being in class as a high schooler and hearing a counselor, who was a White woman, say, “I work here because who else is going to help the poor little brown kids?” The high school I attended was more than 95% Latinx, and more than 95% of us were considered to be economically disadvantaged (U.S. News 2020). To hear a person who was in charge of guiding students through their college application process say this was disillusioning to say the least. This statement alone had undertones of racism and white saviorism, and made me feel hopeless because it never felt like our voices- or our lives- as students mattered. While individuals like her who worked in the high school were few, the teachers who truly aimed to push their students out of the cycle of intergenerational poverty were not and still are not given enough resources to realize that goal. I recall witnessing teachers’ frustrations at the lack of supplies, with them oftentimes having to purchase their own; the resources available to them and to their students were typically limited to what they could individually afford.

I was one of the few students from my Los Angeles high school privileged enough to obtain access to more resources. I was given access to standardized test preparation classes, meetings with a college application counselor, a free laptop, and college tours through a college access program aimed at improving the education outcomes of racial minorities from lower-income neighborhoods. While this college access program benefited many like me, it had limited resources and could only afford to help students already doing well academically while many others slipped through the cracks. Discussing this topic is necessary to ultimately end the cycles of oppression that are prevalent in high schools and communities like the ones I come from.

Individuals’ environments during their childhoods play a distinct role in determining where they will be educated, what job career they will pursue, who they will associate themselves with, what resources will be available to them, and what their life trajectories ultimately look like. To understand the impact of these environments, it is crucial to first understand the process of settling- including the limitations such as income as well as factors like race that have proven to be defining factors in where individuals end up residing. While it is a commonly popularized idea that every individual in the United States is given equal opportunity to succeed and to education, the data presented proves discrimination hinders some individuals’ abilities to reach the popularized idea of success: higher education, money, professional careers. Preparatory schools in particular have proven to be one of the most influential factors in determining where students of all socioeconomic backgrounds end up. In fact, the hindering to success begins early on for low-income individuals. When comparing the reading proficiency levels of fourth-graders, only 16% of low-income children meet the benchmark while 44% of higher-income children meet the benchmark (Jacob and Ludwig 2011).

When discussing the racial makeup of the widely known diverse area of Los Angeles, many people tend to praise its abundant interaction between different cultures and between the people of those different cultures. The reality, however, is much more complicated than simply referring to Los Angeles and its surrounding cities as a “melting pot”. This is a consequence of our country’s narrative that- because slavery and legal segregation have been outlawed- we live in a post racial society (Charles 2006:3). In actuality, when looking at the racial composition of Los Angeles county, it shows the more prominent cities to the north- Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Calabasas- as being majority White while the less fortunate cities to the South- Watts, Inglewood, Compton- are majority Black or Latinx (Charles 2006).

Generally, “poverty in the United States has become more urban, spatially concentrated”, with poor cities also having higher levels of other disadvantages (Gephart 1997:1). Specifically, less advantaged neighborhoods in Los Angeles- specifically those that are majority Black- are “characterized by extreme levels of disadvantage, and middle-class and affluent blacks are exposed to higher levels of neighborhood disadvantage than their status would seem to warrant” (Charles 2006:4). The extreme levels of disadvantage mentioned previously are shown in higher levels of teen pregnancy and lower education levels (Charles 2006). When looking at the poverty rates in Los Angeles county, it is discovered that Whites have the lowest percentage: 8.5%, followed by Asians: 13.9%, with Blacks and Latinx individuals having the highest: both at 24% (Charles 2006).

Worsening the circumstances of these disadvantaged groups is the racial segregation that “interacts with structural changes in the economy to concentrate poverty, disadvantaged groups are far more likely to live in undesirable neighborhoods. With their efforts to achieve homeownership confined to such neighborhoods, they are less able to reach favorable terms on mortgage and insurance. Moreover, when they do own homes, those homes are worth less” (Charles 2006:22). Even many Black individuals in Los Angeles who participate in social mobility, or who are more fortunate, formed their own Black Beverly Hills- implying that the original one is for Whites and is inaccessible (Charles 2006).

A Review of the Previous Literature

Du Bois on Double Consciousness and the Opportunity Gap

W.E.B. Du Bois studied Black communities in Philadelphia and noted that the race of Black individuals stood in the way of their employment opportunities and of their participation in social mobility (1996). Du Bois acknowledged the opportunity gap between Blacks and Whites, arguing its cause was the enforcement of racism rather than biological (1996). Despite having equal levels of potential as their White counterparts, Black individuals were not meeting the same benchmarks as a consequence of: the legacy of slavery, their lack of resources, and their exclusion (Du Bois 1996). The exclusion the Black population faced- and continues to face- is physical, with poor Black individuals being segregated and concentrated in cities and the more affluent Black individuals being excluded from the higher-socioeconomic groups (Du Bois 1996).

Du Bois (2017), as a Black man himself, understood the plight of Black individuals firsthand. Through his conceptualization of double consciousness, he understood the difficulty Black men faced when establishing their identities. Not only do Black individuals- and other racially marginalized groups-  have to view themselves from their own lens, but they must also take into account how outsiders view them in order to fully construct their identities (DuBois 2017).

This concept is attributed to how outsiders’ perceptions of racial minorities affect their lives and influence what opportunities are available to them. These effects can range from a teacher’s racism leading her to find more potential in White students over Black students to an employer hiring a White man over a Black man whose hair was considered to be “unprofessional” with its coils. Black individuals are not given a choice when it comes to determining the extent to which those around them can influence their life paths, it is something they are forced to live with. Racist beliefs oftentimes are the cause behind the stereotypes, the over-criminalization, and the disproportionate rate of incarceration imposed on the Black population.

Mass Incarceration

Michelle Alexander (2020) outlines how the the institution of slavery has transformed into our modern system-which is subtly but undoubtedly racist- with the goal to uphold the White supremacist patriarchy. Alexander (2020) details the gradual process that led us to where we are today; it begins with slavery being outlawed, then the rise of segregation followed by its legal removal, and finally resulting in the over-criminalization of Black bodies consequently resulting in mass incarceration. Instead of focusing on what issues oppression creates- on the bigger picture- many individuals choose to instead place judgement on the symptoms of these issues (Alexander 2020). A largely popularized topic is that which involves the absence of Black fathers; while the chosen narrative explains this with Black men’s unwillingness to commit, the harsh reality is they are unable to be present “because they are warehoused in prisons, locked in cages”(Alexander 2020:223).

Unfortunately, when false narratives are spread alongside the “fictional police dramas, music videos, gangsta rap, and ‘true’ account of ghetto evening news” (Alexander 2020:227), it becomes easier to believe them. As a result, many non-Black individuals believe that mass incarceration of Blacks is deserved and justified and continue to perpetuate the same ideas. Black men being branded as dangerous is the root cause behind their endless murders by the police. When skin color alone is enough to define them in the eyes of others, their attempts to better themselves, to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, is not as effective as the American Dream claims. Going about their daily lives, they must constantly battle the preconceptions others have of them.

Kimberlé Crenshaw on Intersectionality

Kimberlé Crenshaw (2017) coined the term intersectionality to help explain the multi-layered oppression individuals face. She emphasized how vastly different the experiences of those from different races, different genders, different sexualities, and different socioeconomic statuses were (Crenshaw 2017). Unfortunately, the experiences of people of color are too often generalized, leading to the erasure of many stories and facilitating the failure to pinpoint the distinct issues recreating oppressive cycles for each group (Crenshaw 2017). While socioeconomic status oftentimes is directly related to race, there are exceptions; not all racial minorities are poor and not all White individuals are wealthy. For example, while Black men understand and experience racism, they are not victims to the sexism faced by Black women. Similarly, while a poor White man is not victim to any racism, he faces oppression through poverty.

Discussing the concept of intersectionality in relation to the neighborhood effect, White individuals who are low-income do not struggle with issues brought on by racism but they do battle with lack of resources and lower-quality schooling. Meanwhile, more affluent Black individuals who are privileged have access to many resources and may be able to afford high-quality schooling but still battle racism.

Marx on Class Struggles 

Karl Marx (2018), a German founder of sociology, believed that individuals in the world could be grouped through their socioeconomic classes; he believed in the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The bourgeoisie is made up of individuals of the higher-socioeconomic class who are the owners of the means of production and who employ workers (Marx 2018). Meanwhile, the proletarians are the individuals of the lower-socioeconomic class who are the employees of the bourgeoisie (Marx 2018). Simply put, the bourgeoisie is made up of capitalists who oppress and the proletariat is made up of individuals who experience oppression (Marx 2018). Marx (2018) believed that a capitalist society- due to the power dynamics- would ultimately self- destruct through a revolution, resulting in a communist society.

Marx on Education

In regards to education, Karl Marx was well aware of the opportunity gap between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat (Musto 2020). He acknowledged the barriers standing in the way of children from the proletariat obtaining education; he saw the proletariat as “a social class that had in the past been deprived of educational opportunity and, even then, was given only the minimum amount that the status quo required”(Musto 2020:341). Marx was unconcerned with the educations of middle and higher class children; he considered their lack of education to be their own faults because they had the means to afford it (Musto 2020). Meanwhile the proletariat’s children were “condemned to suffer from their own prejudices”(Musto 2020:341). Because members of both socioeconomic classes make up the society as a whole, Marx believes they should all be educated (Musto 2020).

Bourdieu on Forms of Capital

Pierre Bourdieu introduced the concepts of economic, social, and cultural capital. Economic capital is defined as “directly and immediately convertible into money and may be institutionalized in the form of property rights”(Bourdieu 1986:243). Social capital is defined as being “made up of social obligations, which is convertible, in certain conditions, into economic capital and may be institutionalized in the form of a title of nobility” (Bourdieu 1986:243). Cultural capital is defined as “convertible, on some occasions, into economic capital and may be institutionalized in the form of economic qualifications” (Bourdieu 1986: 243).

Specifically, cultural capital can be divided into three categories: embodied, objectified, and institutionalized (Bourdieu 1986). Embodied cultural capital involves an individual’s skills, dialect, mannerisms (Bourdieu 1986). Members of higher-socioeconomic classes will use their clothing and behaviors to isolate themselves from the lower-socioeconomic classes (Bourdieu 1986). Objectified cultural capital includes tangible objects such as luxury cars (Bourdieu 1986). Institutionalized cultural capital includes academic qualifications or credentials (Bourdieu 1986). It is important to note that an individual’s institutionalized capital depends on the prestige of the institution from which they receive their credentials (Bourdieu 1986).

The Case

Trends of Imprisonment and Punishment in the United States

The statistics regarding the population in the United States’s prisons show that those who are behind bars are mainly Black and Latinx (Western 2018). Exposing systemic racism, “Black people charged with possession of crack in inner cities were still punished more harshly than White people in possession of powder cocaine in the suburbs”(Alexander 2020: xvi). Shockingly, “Black men born since the late 1960s were more likely to go to prison than to finish college with a four-year degree”(Western 2018:157).  Going further, we find that “well over half of Black male high school dropouts in their thirties had been to prison” (Western 2018:1). Incarcerated individuals also tend to over-represent those with mental illnesses, housing insecurities, and substance abuse problems- all issues that tend to be associated with age, race, and education (Western 2018). These statistics bring to light the criminalization of Black and Brown bodies, making it easier to understand why a man who said “‘When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems…They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.’” (Alexander 2020: xv) was elected President of the United States in 2016.

Discussing the after-effects of prison, studies show that individuals who are able to physically leave the prison system are never truly given the opportunity for rehabilitation (Western 2018). Aside from the severe stigma associated with prisoners, causing people to feel uncomfortable around them, and especially uncomfortable hiring them, formerly incarcerated individuals will oftentimes have difficulty transitioning back to the real world (Western 2018). This is an especially rough transition for individuals who are placed in solitary confinement, as they not only have not had access to the outside world but have also been blocked off from the rest of the prison (Western 2018). Those who have no support to fall back on have an extremely difficult time readjusting, oftentimes having to seek housing in shelters and having to normalize the crowds of people everywhere on their own (Western 2018).

Discussing Intersectional Identities

While many incarcerated individuals tend to be Black or Latinx, there are Black and Latinx individuals who do hold higher levels of privilege. Though most top colleges in the United States are predominantly White institutions- to such an extent that they are famously called PWIs- they do admit individuals from racially and socioeconomically marginalized groups. However, many of the racial minorities that are admitted tend to be from more privileged socioeconomic backgrounds; for example, “the majority of black students at the twenty-­ eight elite colleges and universities they studied (from Ivy League institutions, like Columbia University, to flagship public universities, like the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor) came from upper-­ income families”(Jack 2019:2). This statistic sheds light on how inaccessible prestigious colleges are to the lower-socioeconomic classes, with the majority of their student bodies made up by individuals from wealthy families. For example, at Pomona College- a top liberal arts college in California- 67% of its students come from families who are from the top 20% while only 4.4% of its students come from families who are from the bottom 20% (Aisch 2017).

The Privileged Poor and the Doubly Disadvantaged

Concerning general admission processes though, the “more selective the college, the fewer the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, in terms of both class and race”(Jack 2019: 8). The top colleges of the United States are known for enrolling more individuals from the top 1% than from the bottom 60%, however, many of these institutions have made attempts to diversify their student bodies (Jack 2019). This has resulted in many poor students of color being given the rare opportunity for social mobility through education despite attending lower-quality preparatory schools (Jack 2019).

Anthony Abraham Jack categorizes poor students of color who make it into prestigious colleges into two categories: the privileged poor and the doubly disadvantaged (2019). Jack considered himself to be a part of the privileged poor because his introduction to elite schooling- and to the elites- was in high school (2019). Similarly, “one-­ third of lower-­ income Latino students at elite colleges and universities hail from private high schools like the Brearley School in New York and the Thacher School in California”(Jack 2019:11). The earlier exposure to the life of the elites changes the environment of the privileged poor. Though these individuals may have been brought up in low-income environments, their environments merge with that of the elites and it facilitates them going into higher education (Jack 2019). Having attended prestigious institutions provides the privileged poor with more resources, more attention, and higher quality instruction (Jack 2019).

Oppositely, the doubly disadvantaged are poor students who come from “local, neighborhood schools that are often dis­tressed, overcrowded, and under-resourced”(Jack 2019:10) where “teachers are likely to be younger and have less experience in the profession (and less support)”(Jack 2019:10) and whose focus is “maintaining order … as neighborhood prob­lems penetrate school boundaries”(Jack 2019:10).  Because the environments of the doubly disadvantaged are low-income cities with lower quality schools, less resources, and more problems, they have a harder time adjusting to elite environments in college (Jack 2019). Being less adaptable than the privileged poor were when exposed to elite environments, individuals who are doubly disadvantaged oftentimes experience intense culture shock and impostor syndrome which can lead to severe mental health issues- that could potentially lead to increases in dropout rates (Jack 2019). Coming from poverty, it is difficult for them to grapple with peers casually mentioning the private jets and the trips to Italy, standing in stark contrast to the “underfunded, under-resourced, under­ staffed, and underperforming”(Jack 2019:14) of their public high schools.

The Pathway to Higher Education for Elites

Meanwhile, the elite students that make up the majority at these predominantly White institutions generally are able to do so because of their backgrounds and where they come from.  In fact, “roughly 80 percent of individuals born into families in the top quartile of household incomes will obtain bachelor’s degrees, while only about 10 percent of those from the bottom quartile will do so.”(Rivera 2015:4); this is a result of their larger access to resources that facilitate their admission. These elite students are privileged enough to come from families that can be picky with where they choose to live; many times, “school quality is one of the most important factors used to decide where to live” (Rivera 2015:5). A good quality school typically has “plentiful honors and advanced placement (AP) courses, athletics, art, music, and drama programs”(Rivera 2015:3) which “not only enhances students’ cognitive and social development but also helps them build academics and extracurriculars that are competitive for college admissions”(Rivera 2015:5).  The environment of these elite students consists of good quality schools and resources that allow them to build competitive resumes that facilitate admission into a prestigious university (Rivera 2015).

On top of this, elite parents are more likely to play an active role in their childrens’ schoolings; they will advocate on behalf of their children for changes in teachers, advanced placement, or even to challenge grades given (Rivera 2015). Aside from the quality of their schools, these students’ parents are able to invest in standardized test preparatory classes and other enrichment programs and give their children access to their typically large networks (Rivera 2015). As a result of their socioeconomic status, these elites are able to live in environments with good quality schools, enrichment programs, and powerful people that all ultimately facilitates their admission into a top tier school (Rivera 2015). Ultimately, this facilitates their job search and employment at a high-paying job in consulting, finance or investment banking where “significant personal achievements (such as admission to an elite university, being a varsity athlete at an Ivy League college, or having an early internship at Goldman Sachs) were interpreted as evidence of the applicant’s intelligence, orientation to success, and work ethic”(Rivera 2015:3).

Analyzing how Environments Determine Life Outcomes

Unfairly, the quality of high schools has a directly proportional relationship to the socioeconomic status of the neighborhoods they are located in (Jack 2019). Put simply, the poorer the people living in the city are, the lower quality the school will be (Jack 2019). With racial minorities, especially Black and Latinx individuals, being disproportionately represented in low income segregated neighborhoods, their high schools are often underfunded, understaffed, and under-resourced (Jack 2019). Consequently, poor students- overrepresented by racial minorities- are often not able to reach their full potential in school because their teachers are not fully experienced and because their classes are over-capacitated with students (Jack 2019). Poverty translates into other forms of disadvantage, seen especially through the quality of school systems; poorer individuals, who live in poor cities, have low rates of reading proficiency, while more affluent individuals have significantly higher rates (Jacob et. al 2011). As Du Bois concluded for the low-income Philadelphia Black neighborhoods, modern low-income neighborhoods inhibit the social mobility of racial minorities who inhabit them through lack of educational opportunities and exclusion (1996). The exclusion of these same individuals is still evident today through the concentration of poverty present in Los Angeles, having cities split up by both class and race (Charles 2006).

Making matters worse, having a low-socioeconomic status and living in a low-socioeconomic environment may add additional stressors to students’ lives, leading them to deal with mental illnesses, housing insecurities, or substance abuse problems; these stressors consequently put them at higher risk for being incarcerated- as they are overrepresented in United States prisons (Western 2015). The need for money, linked to their lower-socioeconomic status, increases their responsibilities and makes it more difficult to focus on education (Rivera 2015). As Karl Marx discussed during his time, the proletariat children- low-socioeconomic children- are not given the same educational opportunities as the children of the bourgeoisie; instead, the proletariat children are faced with barriers that only allow them to reach status quo education levels (Musto 2020). Similarly, many low-socioeconomic children have outside barriers limiting their educational opportunities (Rivera 2015). Adding to this, individuals who are living in poverty- with barely enough to survive- often have no leftover funds to invest in the enrichment extracurricular activities or standardized test prep classes their more privileged counterparts participate in (Rivera 2015).

Aside from being disadvantaged through education, poor children are often not given access to large networks (Rivera 2015). Except for the select few who are privileged enough to make it into prestigious institutions and who are given access to elite environments, the rest of these individuals are held back; many of them do not have parents who went into higher education and they will most likely be surrounded by other working-class individuals for the rest of their lives (Jack 2019). The concentration of poverty makes it so that wealthy people will be surrounded by other wealthy people while poor individuals will remain surrounded by other poor people; because the wealthy people are the ones with power, poor people will have less opportunities to access power (Marx 2018). This ultimately leaves poor people with less opportunities to accumulate economic, social, and cultural capital (Bourdieu 1986).

Individuals who are incarcerated have even fewer options; many times, these individuals will be teased with their freedom without ever actually being able to obtain it (Western 2018). Formerly incarcerated individuals will physically leave prisons, but they will forever be haunted by their prison sentences; they will deal with hostile attitudes from the greater population, increased difficulty in finding jobs, and long-lasting effects on their personal relationships (Western 2018). Regardless of whether or not formerly incarcerated individuals do “change” after being released, they cannot go on with their lives without being forced to consider how those around them perceive them (Western 2018). Their status limits them in where they can apply for jobs, whether or not they are allowed to vote, and whether or not they deserve parental rights (Western 2018). Many incarcerated individuals are there as a result- not of significant crimes or of any crime in many cases- but of their race’s over-criminalization (Alexander 2020). Tying this in with W.E.B. Du Bois’s (2017) concept of double consciousness, incarcerated racial minorities are often victims of the stereotypes outsiders impose on them. The Latinx and Black individuals who are incarcerated are typically there because of the injustices in the system, being forced to do free labor and simultaneously serving as a statistic available for the public to use to perpetuate that they are dangerous (Alexander 2020).

The individuals who are from racial and socioeconomic minority groups and who are privileged enough to attend elite institutions are often the minority (Jack 2019). Those who experience exposure to the world of elites at a young age, the privileged poor, seem to have better chances of succeeding in higher education than the doubly disadvantaged who have a more drastic and rocky transition (Jack 2019). This is a result of earlier exposure, leading to their higher adaptability to elite environments; the privileged poor grow accustomed to being surrounded by wealth and privilege (Jack 2019). Relating this to Bourdieu (1986), the privileged poor are given earlier opportunities to build their cultural capital. By attending elite prep schools, the privileged poor accumulate both embodied and institutionalized cultural capital; they accumulate more institutionalized cultural capital than the doubly disadvantaged who attend lower quality prep schools, giving them an advantage in college admissions.

Yet still, both the privileged poor and the doubly disadvantaged hold more privilege than the individuals who are never able to leave their low-socioeconomic environments (Jack 2019). Despite the fact that these groups are not at the same socioeconomic status as elites, and started off in low-socioeconomic environments, both ultimately enter elite environments through their schools which greatly increases their access to: resources, powerful people, and prestigious institutions (Jack 2019). They are invited to the world of elites, given the chance to accumulate cultural capital through their new environments that introduce them not only to higher quality schooling but also to the elites’ mannerisms, clothing, and social skills (Bourdieu 1986). For instance, Jack (2019) gives an example of when his rich friend’s father helped him build his embodied cultural capital by teaching him to eat his meat medium rare instead of well-done. Jack (2019) was only exposed to this information after entering his schools’ elite environments and interacting with elites. It is these small details, along with the power of institutions and credentials, that build cultural capital and ultimately allow individuals from low-socioeconomic environments to participate in social mobility (Bourdieu 1986).

More privileged are the upper-class racial minorities who do not face financial difficulties throughout their lives (Rivera 2015). This group of individuals is able to invest more money and time in education and they are able to accumulate cultural, economic, and social capital as a result of their upbringings in elite environments (Rivera 2015). Unlike the privileged poor and doubly disadvantaged, these individuals receive more guidance from their parents who have experience accumulating capital while also not having to worry about adapting to elite environments because they have always been a part of them (Rivera 2015). However, their identifications with racial minority groups still force them to suffer the consequences of stereotypes (Crenshaw 2017). Joshua, a racial minority attending a prestigious school recalled his peers being in shock that he “‘spoke so well’” (Jack 2019: 40) since they associated the community he came from with “lazy English” (Jack 2019: 40). Joshua’s experience exemplifies the discrimination and assumptions made of racial minorities regardless of the environments they grow up in; while they may be able to relate to the extravagant and luxurious symbols of power and money, they are still vulnerable to racism and may feel othered by their White counterparts (Jack 2019). Most privileged are White upper-class individuals who are not victims of racism and who grow up in privileged environments with powerful people, plentiful resources, and prestigious schools; their race, class, and socioeconomic status facilitate their admissions into top colleges which is why they are overrepresented in these schools (Rivera 2015).

Reflecting

Being a part of a racial minority group as well as of a lower-socioeconomic class leaves children most at risk for living in environments that place obstacles on their paths to success (Jack 2019). The abilities of low-income racial minorities are hindered by the lack of good quality schools, lack of funds and time to invest in extracurriculars, and lack of opportunity to build capital present in their communities (Jack 2019). Similarly, many of their parents- who also come from low-income environments- suffered from the same problems growing up; they were not given many opportunities to go into higher education, they have difficulty building capital, and consequently are unable to provide their children access or guidance (Rivera 2015). 

As mentioned previously, the system is set up to control who is able to achieve success, how much success they can achieve, and who must be prevented from succeeding. Studies indicate that the system is set up to prevent racially marginalized groups from succeeding; they are forced to fall into cycles of poverty through poverty concentration, isolation, low-quality public schools, and insufficient resources in their environments (Rivera 2015). On the flip side, their more affluent White counterparts are able to accumulate capital over generations and have access to greater networks, greater quality schools, more opportunities, and more resources in their environments (Rivera 2015).

Writing this paper has allowed me to grow my understanding of the experiences of low-income racial minorities from my public high school who were unable to continue their education. I realize that getting into a prestigious college was not because I worked harder than them or because I had more potential; it was simply because I was lucky. I, and the others that were in the top of my high school’s graduating class, are the exception. After experiencing being doubly disadvantaged at my own college, experiencing impostor syndrome and difficulty adjusting to an elite environment, I find myself wondering what the doubly disadvantaged from my high school experienced/are experiencing.

I have also been able to learn a lot more about the different pathways that lead people into prestigious institutions. Before this paper, I never put much thought into how my experience may be different from another student who was also a first generation low-income college(FLI) student. I realize now why my college peers who attended private prep schools and who are FLI students seem to more easily fit into the elite environment. In my first year, I used to put a lot of pressure on myself because I was not adapting as well as my other friends were; writing this paper has helped me understand that our experiences are very different and I should not be so hard on myself. Ultimately, privilege is all measured on a spectrum, with individuals scattered all throughout it; one’s specific circumstances will determine where they land on it.

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