1009 Paloma Dr
Arcadia, CA 91007

Arcadia high school is a relatively good public school with an adequate amount of resources that prepares high school students for college. However, there seems to be this toxic culture in this school. As someone who moved to Arcadia from China (which is normal due to high amount of Asian population in this community), I felt like I was never able to mix in this school. Half of school population is either Chinese or Taiwanese descendants, but apparently these Asian American students looked down on students like me who are recent immigrants and speak English with an unavoidable accent. Arcadia is a community that receives a vast amount of immigration due to its location in Los Angeles. However, I never felt welcomed in this school. I rarely met anyone who is willing to my friend or listen to my stories. High school students create hierarchical social ladders in their community, and I was unwillingly dumped at the bottom of the food chain. This puts me to disadvantage in club activities and extracurriculars (which are important for college application) because people don't even bother to socialize with me. I eventually made some friends after reinventing myself, which was a complete blood bath. Arcadia High school is a place that someone people went for 4 years and felt like they never belonged. I believe a lot of alums share the same feelings as me. Their microagressive condescendence to recent immigrants from China stems from school to the town itself. This unwelcoming culture to outsiders is truly suffocating!

I don’t know whether it’s the school deficiency or US education system, but I think the kids doesn’t learn many math topics, the geography, history and science subjects are really poor, the teachers don’t have the enthusiasm of teaching and don’t inspire the students. I had chosen this school thinking that it was one of the best in Arcadia, but I’m disappointed.

Hugo Reid is a good school and there are a handful of teachers that are outliers and truly outstanding. However, if you are unfortunate enough to have your child be bullied, don't expect that the administration will do anything to hold the bullies accountable. They will provide support to your child, but will not bring in the bullies for any type of meeting or consequence. Their justification is that as long as it's "not happening anymore" then they just ignore it, like it never even happened. There will be no justice because they won't even bother to bring it up to the aggressors or their parent/guardians.