Standing Up Against Discrimination

Wes faces racism and becomes an intellectual, while Raybe faces classism and becomes a criminal. Miss Tretheway from Long Long After School by Ernest Buckler stands up against the racial discrimination shown towards her student Wes, supporting him to become an intelligent and working member of the community. Ms Scofield from A Teachers Reward by Robert Phillips participates in the class discrimination shown towards her student Raybe, which contributes to him becoming a criminal and serving jail time for 10 years. The courage of an individual with power to stand up against discrimination can have positive effects on victims of discrimination that will last a lifetime.

Wes and Raybe are two adults who experienced different forms of discrimination as kids. Wes is a victim of racism, which is discrimination directed towards someone because of race. Raybe is a victim of classism, a form of discrimination against someone of a lower social class. Wes was a black child growing up in a white community, and he was constantly ridiculed by his peers. Similarly, Raybe was relentlessly harassed by his peers, because his family was poor. These two individuals both experienced overt discrimination from their classmates while in the third grade, but their experiences with their grade three teachers were vastly different. Evidently all of the students show discrimination towards Wes and Raybe, which reflects that kids lack the maturity to understand how damaging the negative effects of discrimination are. However, empathic adults, such as Wes’ grade three teacher, understand that mistreating someone based on an aspect of their life that is uncontrollable, such as race or wealth, is completely unacceptable.

Miss Tretheway, Wes’ grade three teacher, stands up against discrimination, while Ms. Scofield, Raybe’s grade three teacher, participates in the discrimination. The students in Miss Tretheway’s class are racist, and Miss Tretheway courageously shuts them down. A girl named Marilyn refuses to hold Wes’ hands because she calls them “dirty” (Buckler, 50). When Miss Tretheway hears this she says, “Why, Marilyn, Wes’ hands are much cleaner than yours” (Buckler, 50). The deeper message she is conveying is that clean hands represent innocence, and dirty hands represent being guilty of discrimination. Raybe faces a similar situation to Wes, where he recalls how Ms. Scofield “always told me I was dirty, just because my aunt couldn’t keep me in clean shirts like some of the others” (Phillips, 386). Here, Ms Scofield is guilty of participating in the discrimination against Raybe by calling him dirty. Miss Tretheway not only confronts the verbal racism shown towards Wes, she also rebels against the societal racism that prevents Wes from having the same learning opportunities as the other kids. While Wes was in the hospital, he recalls that Miss Tretheway “used to come see me everyday. She used to bring me books”. Wes says, “books… well for anyone like me that’s the only way you can…?” (Buckler, 52). Using inference, it is clear that because of the racism shown towards Wes, the only way he can expand upon his learning is from books given to him by his teacher, because he doesn’t have access to any other forms of literature. Ms. Scofield, on the contrary, instigates the societal classism that prevents Raybe from fitting in with the other kids. She is condescending towards Raybe because of his family’s financial position. Raybe says that Ms. Scofield “never gave me the chance others had”, “The other kids left me out of things because you were always saying I was bad” (Phillips, 386). Both kids were prevented from having the same opportunities as other kids because of discrimination, but Wes’ teacher puts a stop to it, while Raybe’s teacher encourages it, having a lifelong impact on the boys.

Despite both boys facing discrimination as kids, when they grow up their lives are drastically different. Wes becomes an intelligent working member of the community, while Raybe becomes a criminal and serves 10 years in prison. Wes is the “caretaker-about-town” (Buckler, 48), and he is very knowledgeable. He “can quote anyone from Seneca to Henry James” (Buckler, 48). Wes’ success is directly linked to Miss Tretheway standing up to the discrimination shown against him by providing more learning opportunities. Similarly to how Miss Tretheway’s courage is linked to Wes’ success, Ms Scofield’s oppression is linked to Raybe’s failure, as she always says he is “bad” (Phillips, 386). This makes the other kids leave him out, resulting in him joining a rough crowd in high school and eventually ending up in prison for 10 years. Even in prison he is unable to turn his life around, and upon release continues to experience failure and unemployment. He fully recognizes that Ms. Scofield is responsible for this outcome, and he confronts her role in his failure by saying, “you were the one” (Phillips, 386). Although the boys will never forget the discrimination they experience as kids, Miss Tretheway’s courage helps Wes outgrow his childhood challenges and rise above them.

The courage of an individual with power to stand up against discrimination can have positive affects that will last a lifetime on victims of discrimination. Wes faces discrimination due to his race, and Miss Tretheway stands up against it, which supports him to become a knowledgeable member of the working class. Raybe faces discrimination due to his class, and no one stands up against it, contributing to him becoming a criminal and going to prison for 10 years. Standing up against discrimination not only changes the lives of victims, it also benefits society as a whole.