The dismissal of students' backgrounds by the educational system has a deep effect on communities of color, perpetuating a system that sets them up for academic failure. Maori scholar Linda Tuhiwai Smith (2012) created terminology for the process of systematic fragmentation, which she describes as an act of dismissal on a macro-level. This article examines systematic fragmentation and how the concept applies to education in three specific ways. The first two examples focus on the ways in which education has systematically fragmented the Mexican American cultural legacy both historically and presently. The third example addresses how the American history curriculum, which reflects society's master narrative, systematically fragments communities of color by disregarding their histories and experiences, those of indigenous peoples specifically. This oppressive master narrative is framed as society's norm. Therefore people of color's histories are often not placed at the center but instead at the margins, if present at all. The center maintains the status quo and furthers society's narrative, leaving it unquestioned. This narrative can be traced back through history and continues to thrive in the educational curriculum today.