Sonali Kohli And Modern-Day Segregation In Public Schools

1051 Words3 Pages

Last year, a startling press release made by the U.S. Department of Education stating “Black students to be afforded equal access to advanced, higher-level learning opportunities.” A controversial headline from the well-known magazine, The Atlantic, would leave people scratching their heads, wondering what the big deal is. Who would have ever imagined there would be segregation in today’s world? Author of the article “Modern-Day Segregation in Public Schools” Sonali Kohlia is now a reporter for the Los Angeles Times Media Group with a Bachelor’s Degree in English from the University of California- Los Angeles. Based on Kohlia’s educational background, she was able to offer a valid perspective on how tracking has harmed more students than benefit …show more content…

Many tend to shy away when anything concerning race is involved. The article’s title “Modern-Day Segregation in Public Schools” calls the issue directly out. Everyone realizes what segregation is. There is no question that the topic should be taken seriously. Kohli relates the issue back to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of 1954, “…which mandated the desegregation of America’s public schools.” The Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education will forever be known as a highly historic and heart-wrenching decision. An emotional tactic was used as seen through an actual experience with a student. Walter Fields, the father of an African-American New Jersey student has seen firsthand the effects of tracking becoming another form of segregation. Field’s daughter scored high enough scores to be placed in an accelerated course at her high school, but was not placed in the course due to a lacking recommendation from her teacher. Fields stated “You can…look in a classroom and know whether it’s an upper level class or a lower level class based on the racial composition of the classroom.” This saying that the lower level classes are predominately comprised of African-Americans and the higher level classes are predominately comprised of white students. Therefore, reinforcing the statistics of the Racial Distribution in AP Courses at Columbia High School in which black students made up 51.5 percent of total enrollment, but only having 18.7 percent enrolled in AP courses. Unlike the 38.4 percent enrollment of white students with 69.8 percent making up the AP course

Open Document