-School integration has proven to be of the most effective reforms in the US education
System since its inception, academic success has been achieved among the marginalized groups such as the African Americans and the Latinos. It has also given the African Americans an opportunity to seek better employment opportunities than the normal unskilled labor jobs that they were used to. Overall, the school integration has created huge differences in the lives of minorities allowing them to have better and healthier lives. Previous studies conducted showed that African Americans that attended desegregated schools have a higher probability of attending college and securing good jobs than those who attended segregated schools (Crain and Wells, 1997
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It gives wider contacts; it inspires greater self-confidence; and it suppresses the inferiority complex”. Thus, within a better funded environment, the African Americans who attended desegregated school would take more benefits in education and also have healtheir psychological growth. Unlike the those that went to the segregated schools, they did not have to travel long distance instead they could check into the nearby schools. Being closer to the schools reduced stress associated with education and thus had favorable conditions for study. On the other hand, some of the African Americans who attended the segregated schools had higher dropout rates from high school due to many factors including poverty, family issues and lack of resources from school. As a result, the students who attended the segregated schools could not reach to a …show more content…
The desegregation of school, the education only itself, could not solve the racial problems of a society which has been unsolved for decades. Although the schools were desegregated, the segregation was virtually left with other issues like housing. The minority groups had limited access to houses, allowing them to rent only in isolated ghettos which required more race-specific agenda to desegregate schools in urban districts.(Wells and Crain 1997 pg.6) As much as it advocated for equal opportunities for all, the policy of desegregation did not consider the ideas of the minority groups. The minorities were expected to abide by the curriculum of that was used by the white during the era of segregation thus creating an unfair level ground between students in school. As a result, the white students performed better than the Latinos that had to begin from scratch. Secondly, despite implementation of segregation, the school integration did not change how growing perception of racial inferiority. The African Americans and Latino still faced cases of discrimination which affected their performance in schools. St. Louis is a good case of a school that was struggling with racial discrimination even after the implementation of desegregation plan. Although the minority groups had an opportunity to be get higher education in an integrated institute, there was a continued racial discriminations in and out of classes in offering unequal access to opportunities and leaving too
The second is the concern over segregation and the effect it has on society. Mr. Kozol provides his own socially conscious and very informative view of the issues facing the children and educators in this poverty ravaged neighborhood. Those forces controlling public schools, Kozol points out, are the same ones perpetuating inequity and suffering elsewhere; pedagogic styles and shapes may change, but the basic parameters and purposes remain the same: desensitization, selective information, predetermined "options," indoctrination. In theory, the decision should have meant the end of school segregation, but in fact its legacy has proven far more muddled. While the principle of affirmative action under the trendy code word ''diversity'' has brought unparalleled integration into higher education, the military and corporate America, the sort of local school districts that Brown supposedly addressed have rarely become meaningfully integrated. In some respects, the black poor are more hopelessly concentrated in failing urban schools than ever, cut off not only from whites but from the flourishing black middle class. Kozol describes schools run almost like factories or prisons in grim detail. According to Kozol, US Schools are quite quickly becoming functionally segregated. Kozol lists the demographics of a slew of public schools in the states, named after prominent civil rights activists, whose classrooms are upwards of 97% black and Hispanic — in some cases despite being in neighborhoods that are predominantly white. It has been over 50 years since Brown vs. Board of Education. It is sad to read about the state of things today.
Parenting alone is not to blame for poor school performance of African American children. The size of a school affects their student’s dropout rate. When school size increases the quality of education decreases. As stated by Velma Zahirovic-Herbert and Geoffrey
Kozol has compiled a list of schools that are either still segregated, or are re-segregating and the schools do not have the same things as those in suburban, or mainly white neighborhoods. He outlines many inner city schools as mostly African American and Hispanic students. Some schools have less than a quarter of their population come from Caucasian decent, and as few as one student in the demographics. Kozol speaks about unequal d...
The efforts of desegregation have to be back in order and this means that more adults have to admit their children to schools irrespective of the ethnicity. So, what’s stopping them? A Guest Post in Colorado school grades, a coalition of 18 non-profit community organizations, written by Michael Petrilli, an award-winning writer, and president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which talks about pros and cons of choosing a diverse school for children might give us an answer. Focusing on the cons, we have the first one which is the child might end up in a school that has less funding and resources which is true as emphasized in the article Desegregation Since the Coleman Report. The next reason was having to take small risks regarding safety and finally, the third being even if the classes were not separated by race, they would be separated by intellect which was again both of which were discussed in “A Crisis of Authority in Predominantly Black Schools?” I.E the concluding that American education system is directly or indirectly involved in the matters of segregation and playing a huge role in discrimination and education
The education gap between the north and the south has many roles in the African American community. The north has always been industrial while the south was agricultural, many of these children who was suppose to be attending school was helping on farms working and helping their parents throughout the day instead of getting an education. “The percentage of all schools with so called racial or socio-economic isolation grew from 9% to 16%” Today students still experience or has been a victim to social and racial differences. When segregation was abolished it allowed students to be in the same classroom together, be able to eat and go to the same bathrooms, also being taught by the same teacher. However many teachers failed to realized or wanted to teach these students based on the color of their skin, causing many students to drop out of school because of not being heard. The black community has a low rate of graduation rates in the south than the white community “In the last four years more than 69 percent of white louisiana males graduated making for a 16 point difference, while 59 percent of black louisiana males graduated” These school systems doesn’t care that they’re not being taught or graduation. Based on race in louisiana it’s a 10 percent difference that causing them to less likely become successful. Still causing the social differences teachers refused to teach an African American student
African-Americans endured poor academic conditions throughout the entire United States, not just in the south. In Prince Edward County, Virginia, the segregated school had no nurse, lockers, gym or cafeteria. In Clarendon County, South Carolina, buses were not available to the African-American school, but were available to the white schools. In Wilmington, Delaware, no extra curricular activities or buses were offered to the African-American school. In Washington DC, the situation in segregated schools was the same as in the other states, but the textbooks were outdated. (Good, 21-34)
In North Carolina, African American and white students attended segregated public schools. However, the schools were unequal. The white schools had better buildings and enough number of qualified teachers than African Americans’ schools, and that impacted both their lives and future.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The theme of the research is to discover why there is such a vast educational gap between minority and Caucasian students. Many American are unaware that such an educational gap actually exists among today’s students. This article informs us of alarming statics, such as of African American students representing a majority of the special education population, despite only making up roughly 40% of the student population. It also breaks down key events that contributed to the poor education that minority children are currently receiving. For example, in the past, it was illegal to educate African Americans and when it became legal to blacks were treated as second class students. They were segregated from their white counter parts and given hand-me-down textbooks. This article also discusses others factors that contributed to the poor education of minority students such as moral principles, socio-political, and economic stat. Despite the amount of time that has past, today’s schools are similar to the past. Minority children are still in second-rate learning environments while white students enjoy the comforts of first class school buildings and textbooks. In summary, the theme of this article was to bring attention to the educational gap among African-American, Latino, Asian, and other non-white students.
The issue of desegregation has been a very controversial issue since it was first legally introduced by the Supreme Court in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS. Favoring or not favoring desegregation has not been the issue; almost everyone says they are for it on the surface. The controversy arises when it comes to how to implement desegregation. Immediately following the Brown decision, which advocated school assignment regardless of race, many school districts adopted a geographic school assignment policy. This plan, especially in the 1950's, did very little to do away with segregated schools even though it was a race-neutral policy for integration. From that rocky beginning to desegregation, to the current battles over how best to implement desegregation through mandatory (or voluntary) busing of minorities and whites, this issue has been in the forefront of discussions about race and education. This paper will attempt to give a brief history of desegregation in the United States, followed by a discussion of the current events which surround this issue (with balance given to the viewpoints of both sides), and then offer advice on solutions which most benefit everyone involved.
Through programs that directly fuel desegregation in schools, our educational systems have become a melting pot of different races, languages, economic status and abilities. Programs have been in place for the past fifty years to bring student that live in school districts that lack quality educational choices, to schools that are capable of providing quality education to all who attend. Typically the trend appears to show that the schools of higher quality are located in suburban areas, leaving children who live in “black” inner-city areas to abandon the failing school systems of their neighborhoods for transportation to these suburban, “white” schools. (Angrist & Lang, 2004)
America’s school system and student population remains segregated, by race and class. The inequalities that exist in schools today result from more than just poorly managed schools; they reflect the racial and socioeconomic inequities of society as a whole. Most of the problems with schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school system or financial disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Because schools receive funding through local property taxes, low-income communities start at an economic disadvantage. Less funding means fewer resources, lower quality instruction and curricula, and little to no community involvement.
In the history of the United States, there has always existed the issue of race and how to balance out racial differences in America. The issue of race has made an impact on every part of this country including the field of education. The issue of desegregation and how to balance out schools to even the field for all students to comply with the Fourteenth Amendment and rulings such as Brown v. Board of Education has indeed been a challenge for American society.
For centuries African Americans have fought for equal rights, one of them being an opportunity for the chance to get an equal education. Many people believe that African Americans have an equal or better chance at getting an education than other students. This is not the case when in fact, it is actually harder for these three reasons: African American students tend to come from harsh, poverty stricken atmospheres. Shattered family lifestyles that make it difficult to pursue a higher education because they have not received the proper information. Secondly, just because African Americans are minorities does not mean that they receive a vast amount of government assistance or financial aid to pursue a higher education. Lastly, African American students do not receive the same treatment as other students when they attend predominantly white colleges and universities.
Palardy, G., and R. Rumberger. Does Desegregation Matter?: The of Social Composition on Academic Achievement in Southern High Schools. N.p.: University of North Carolina, 2005. Print.
...trated in the inner city where the worst, most impoverished schools are located. Therefore, even if they wish to attend school, they still receive have less access to good teachers and a good learning environment. And perhaps the most detrimental issue that minorities face is that they are often stigmatized as inferior. This causes them to be treated differently and it causes them to have low expectations for themselves, which leads to poor performance.