During a conference regarding a fatal plane crash in Washington D.C. on Jan. 30, President Donald Trump claimed that the collision was due to the diversity, equity and inclusivity hires at the Federal Aviation Administration implemented by former President Joe Biden, citing no evidence. However, this isn’t the first time that Trump or other political figures have blamed disasters on DEI programs. Similarly, when the Los Angeles fires broke out in early 2025, Elon Musk, an avid participator in the federal government,  blamed the Los Angeles Fire Department’s inability to contain the fires on the now former LAFD chief, Kristen Cowley, for prioritizing “DEI over saving lives and homes.”

When these governmental figures cast DEI in a negative light, they misunderstand and misrepresent DEI initiatives. However, the misconceptions surrounding DEI are relevant not just in politics but also at Monta Vista High School. For more affluent MVHS students, many are so blinded by their privilege, prioritization of academics and college careers that they fail to see the reality of DEI efforts in schools, college admissions and the workplace.

The median family income in Cupertino is $231,139 and 5% of MVHS is economically disadvantaged; in contrast, 37% of students are financially underprivileged in California. Additionally, Cupertino has a 70% Asian population, with 79% of MVHS being Asian. Due to the bubble of wealth and lack of diversity at MVHS, students remain unaware of the systemic racism that puts other minorities in poverty.

When we aren’t able to recognize the issues that systemic racism perpetuates in our society, it becomes easier to cast DEI as  “reverse racism,” which deems DEI initiatives as an invalid way to encourage inclusivity. However, the bubble that MVHS students live in isn’t the only reason we fail to see the reality of DEI: a significant factor that plays into this mindset is our obsession with college admissions.

Wealth plays a large role in high school success — students from families in the top 20% financially  are seven times more likely to score above 1300 on the SAT than the bottom 20% — so, it’s no surprise the mean MVHS SAT score is 1386, around 300 points higher than the state average. Students can also face familial pressures, with 91% of immigrant parents expecting their children to get a degree. This focus on college, in tandem with many students’ ignorance of systemic racism, makes them solely care about DEI in terms of  its affects on their academics.

With many MVHS students driven toward academic success, many of their biggest nightmares would be becoming like Gunn High School alum Stanley Zhong. With a 3.96 GPA and a 1590 SAT, Zhong was rejected by 16 out of 18 of the colleges he applied to, including schools like UC Davis, with an acceptance rate of over 40%. The Asian American Coalition for Education rallied for his case in the following months, and in a press release claimed he would have been accepted “if he were black or Hispanic” and was rejected “as result of their illegal racial diversity and equity programs.”

The opinions expressed in AACE’s press release are a continuation of a trend of believing colleges are biased against Asian Americans. With MVHS students in a similar environment as Zhong, striving for the same goals, they may absorb the same ideology that DEI and affirmative action exist to unfairly discriminate against them based on their Asian identity, blurring the line between DEI and affirmative action.

In reality, DEI is an umbrella term that encompasses affirmative action with both focusing on creating an inclusive environment by addressing the different aspects of inclusivity. However, affirmative action narrows down on improving representation by accounting for and providing opportunities for certain groups of students, especially women, racial minorities and people with disabilities.  However, both DEI and affirmative actions can be utilized to combat  the historical injustices that affect the success of groups of students. Head of the FUHSD Human Resources department, Greg Giglio, believes that even though affirmative action and DEI are related, affirmative action focuses on the specific steps that institutions, such as colleges and universities, can take to promote a more representative environment.

“Affirmative action is really about numbers and ratios,” Giglio said. “We’re not saying, ‘Let’s give someone a preference over somebody else,’ but, ‘Let’s open the doors a little bit and see who can come through and who we might be able to give opportunity to.’”

According to Giglio, following the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, FUHSD began focusing more in-depth on DEI, including recruiting more teachers of color to improve the discrepancy in demographics between the student population and the staff. In its efforts, FUHSD has continued to ensure that the teachers on campus are representative of the student body.

“Having a diverse group of teachers doesn’t just help the African American student seeing an African American teacher,” Giglio said. “It helps a white student seeing an African American teacher because it starts to open up doors and provide experiences. I think that’s something that’s misunderstood, people think DEI only affects people of color.”

While Trump continues to pass executive orders to ban DEI and condemns “immoral race-and sex-based preferences,” MVHS students should self-reflect on their views of DEI.  By realizing that many students exist in a unique position of privilege and wealth, the experience of less fortunate minorities is the one that might benefit from DEI programs and policies.

Schools should take specific steps to inform their students about systemic racism. This includes encouraging education on systemic racism by fostering conversation through effective advisories that describe the history and current state of systemic racism. However, in the long run, schools should move towards funding preparation classes for standardized tests such as the SAT to provide equal opportunity. The first and most important step that MVHS can take amidst the changes in DEI policies is to remind students why the policies exist in the first place.

This story was originally published on El Estoque on March 3, 2025.