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53 U.S.F. L. Rev. 77 (2019)
Trauma and Learning: Creating a Culture of Educational Access for Inner City Communities

handle is hein.journals/usflr53 and id is 83 raw text is: 







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Trauma and Learning: Creating a

Culture of Educational Access for Inner

City Communities



                                           By MARSHAL   ARNWINE  JR.*


How CAN SOCIETY EXPECT children to focus on performing well
in school when  they are worried about  making  it home safely due to
gang violence and  negative encounters with law enforcement? The  sit-
uations mentioned above describe daily traumatic experiences for
some  of the youth in America. Trauma   serves as a detriment to a stu-
dent's ability to learn by altering the physiology of a child's develop-
ing brain  and creating a neurobiological  response that impairs  the
performance   of daily activities, especially educationally relevant skills
like thinking, reading, concentrating, learning, and regulating emo-
tions.' Studies have shown, for example,  that when  children are ex-
posed  to violence they have  decreased  reading ability, lower grade
point averages, more  school absences, and are less likely to obtain a
high school diploma.2  Unaddressed  trauma  is a powerful predictor of
academic  failure.3

    * J.D., University of San Francisco School of Law (2018); B.A., University of
California, Santa Cruz (2015). The author is a man of Christian faith who is passionately
pursuing a career as a Public Defender. He dedicates this Comment to every traumatic
childhood story that goes untold. The author battles daily to cope with childhood trauma
he experienced while being raised in Compton, California and wants inner-city youth to
know they are not alone. He wants them to know that.there are healthy avenues to address
trauma and live victorious lives. The author thanks his late beloved grandmother Annie
Arnwine, whose legacy inspired him to write this Comment. He also would like to thank
the following community for their support in his research and writing phases: Luke Boso,
Amy Wright, Christina Chong, LaTasha Hill, and Keani Christian.
    1. Complaint at 2, Peter P. v. Compton Unified Sch. Dist., 135 F. Supp. 3d 1126
(C.D. Cal. 2015) (No. LA CV 15-3726-MWF (PLAx)), 2015 WL 2393294.
    2. Id.
    3. Id.


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