After visitng Mountain View High in the morning, I got in my car (which is now for sale…) and drove half an hour up to Thurgood Marshall High School in the Bayview district of San Francisco. I met with teacher Ellen Yoshitsugu, and then talked with her 9th grade earth sciences class and her 12th grade AP environmental studies.
Perhaps the most interesting parts of my school visits have been seeing what different schools in the bay area are like. People in the bay divide themselves impressively between their municipalities. At Palo Alto High, the majority of students are Caucasian, and you would have no idea that over 40% of California is Latino. In east San Jose (or East Palo Alto), you would have no idea that California is anything but Latino. I think that Mountain View (see post after this) was actually the most representative mix of ethnicities and backgrounds in the area.
Thurgood Marshall High was a diverse mix of Asian, Latino, and African Americans. It is difficult to make more generalizations other than appearance, however, in my short visits. The two classes I talked with at the school were quite different. The first class, a 9th-grade class, was very difficult to connect with. The second class, a senior AP environmental studies was quite interested in this trip. A number of the students stayed after the class ended and talked with me about college applications as well as about my trip.