From pre-kindergarden to eight grade I went to school at Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School. I spent eleven years at BZAEDS, and I received an amazing education, built strong friendships, and had a safe and controlled learning environment. Despite all that I got from BZAEDS, there are many things that I was unexposed to. For example, at a school where every single student was white and Jewish, I had no experience with diversity. Most students shared similar views and opinions, and I had no preparation surrounding someone who would challenge the ideals that I lived eleven years of my life around. Also, everybody at BZAEDS wants the students to succeed. Teachers go out of their way to help students before students ask for help, taking away from their self advocacy. Not only did I get less experience advocating for myself, but I was sheltered from facing true academic difficulty and hardship. My years at BZAEDS were an incredible experience that provided me with countless important lessons. However, it also kept me in a bubble that blocked crucial experiences from getting to me.
Luckily for me, BZAEDS is not a high school, and after getting into Whitney Young I had my eyes opened to the things I was missing out on. However a few of my friends from BZAEDS went to other private schools instead of CPS schools. Seven out of the forty-two kids in my grade returned to a life of shelter and bubbles, blocked from real world experiences. I was fortunate enough to be able to escape from my reservation with help from the citizens themselves, but some of my peers just wondered on to the next one.
