“What’s The Point?”

Last school year, while Cruz-Bustamante was a junior at Cross, they said they fell out of love with learning because of systemic problems with the public school system. 
They described dealing with challenges like food insecurity in their family, and said they heard from several fellow students dealing with the same and many other issues.
During their first year on the Board of Education, Cruz-Bustamante said they’ve met students dealing with too little to eat, homelessness, domestic problems with family members, and the lack of a support system at home. Cruz-Bustamante concluded that these issues add up to students growing to feel “apathy, disengagement, resentment” toward the education system, both consciously and unconsciously. Along with the feeling that the district’s curriculum is not culturally relevant and teaching students to want to be lifelong learners.
Cruz-Bustamante said during their high school journey they’ve also faced the challenge of navigating the unpredictable process of getting treatment for their diagnosed depression and anxiety.
They added that about twice a week they were tasked with doing busy work or nothing in their classes due to the lack of a permanent sub or certified teacher. They recalled learning from teachers about the shortage and it stemming from issues of teacher dissatisfaction.
Most often Cruz-Bustamante used the teacher-less downtime to catch up on political organizing, hang out with friends, and create the Socialist Scholars Party constitution. 
They described the student population, including themselves, as having a “What’s the point?” feeling about school in recent years because of the lack of systemic change, particularly post-Covid. 
The delayed adaptation of schooling is causing students to become disengaged, depressed, and with a “deep internal stagnation of doom feeling” Cruz-Bustamante said.
“The system and violence is collapsing around us,” they added. 
Cruz-Bustamante spent the summer reviving their love for learning after a lack of it their junior year. This was primarily due to the post-secondary courses application of academic material to current societal issues.
Cruz-Bustamante said they feel a “spirit of rebellion” within students all over the country who are discontent with the capitalist education system, they said.
Both youth and adults are dealing with growing climate change concerns and “deep-seeded colonial capitalism,” Cruz-Bustamante said, making it obvious that “the way we’re living isn’t working.”
“This rebellion is so much more physic and material in that it’s just a complete rejection of how we view the world now,” they added.
They said they are dreading going back school for their senior year because the current educational structure is not investing enough in student supports and culturally-relevant curriculums. 
They added that the pandemic exasperated these many crises, leaving students feeling abandoned.
“We’re blooming against the dying field of earth,” they said. “New Haven and Yale has designed this rich and intellectual life for Yalies, but for the rest of us it’s a matter of life and death.”