The foundation of a community is built upon its various social institutions: educational, economic, and governmental; as a result, the trajectory of one’s familial life is predicated on the outcomes that these institutions produce. When inequality becomes the crux upon which these systems are built, the ostensible result is widespread oppression. It has long been understood that providing an equitable, high quality education is a critical component of any given society’s socio-economic success, thus a society’s failure to properly educate its citizenry represents a significant social problem. The African-American community is one such example of persons who have long fought against the systems of oppression that have denied them access to …show more content…
Efforts toward ethnic integration on the macro and micro levels of American society were considered important, not only to the Black American family, but to the overall social, political and economic success of the nation. The Supreme Court of the United States paved the way for greater diversity in schools by imposing enforceable, busing programs in an effort to desegregate schools, and also by using so-called “affirmative action” programs to diversify schools with more women and ethnic minorities. Jeremy Fiel describes the incidence of resegregation in schools as, “a mode of exclusion that emerges from group-based competition for resources and promotes educational stratification” (Fiel 2013). At the macro level, laws were instituted to provide equal access to groups that were institutionally oppressed. The consensus was that desegregation of the public schools and workforce would provide meaningful socio-economic opportunities. The previous efforts to integrate, educate and prosper these stratified groups have been diluted by recent attempts of the status quo to rescind the institutional protections afforded to these groups. As a result of these counterproductive efforts, “‘Black children are more racially and socioeconomically isolated today than at any time’ since data became available in 1970, Richard Rothstein, a research …show more content…
Nancy Leong’s scholarly article Racial Capitalism extols policy measures that broaden institutional inclusivity in the United States, she asserts “diversity is a necessary prerequisite to improving racial relations in America. The efforts of colleges and universities, employers, and other institutions to promote racial diversity should be celebrated, not disparaged” (Leong 1). Macro and micro level attitudes toward institutionally imposed diversity efforts, such as affirmative action, have evolved as more Americans view the nation as a “post-racial society”. These pervasive, modern attitudes toward race created the demand for institutional policies to override affirmative action in schools. Resegregation in schools is the symptom, but diversity-based policies such as affirmative action can empower American society socially as it also rebuilds the United States economically. The dissolution of these integrative measures represents the ongoing trends of willful ignorance by the status quo toward the real needs of its disadvantaged minorities, and a blatant disregard for the immense challenges these groups have yet to overcome. Scott Jasick notes that the support for the elimination of affirmative action policies is frequently linked to self-interest,
In his book Improbable Scholars, David Kirp examines the steps communities take to make successful education reforms. While describing the particular education initiatives of Union City, New Jersey, Kirp suggests that “[if] we want to improve education, we must first have a vision of what good education is,” (2015). Kirp’s descriptions of Union City certainly support that point, but it’s difficult to claim that that point is generalizable if we do not examine other education initiatives and their approach to reform. In examining how visions of “good education” can guide successful education reforms, one can point to Black communities in Mississippi—whose radical vision of “good education” guided the creation of schools, curricula, and community
Even though we have witnessed a portion of Black people rising up such as Barack Obama, Lebron James, there are still a lot of Blacks suffering from enfranchisement, torture, and double standard of law. Being a developed and powerful country, the issue of racism is worth noticing. The critical part of the issue is that law seems ineffective to protect poor Black people. That’s why so many Blacks are powerless when bullied by people like police or associations like Ku Klux Klan. So it is crucial to consolidate the law to keep Blacks’ personal rights from being violated. Besides, we need to stress the education of Blacks, especially those in poverty. One of the reasons why Blacks have been treated unequally to Whiles is because they did not contrite as much to the nation as Whites, and education inequality could partially account for this result. Being more powerful is more likely to be respected by others. Thus. Shrinking the gap of education quality between the Black community and White community could alleviating
Even though the Brown v. Board of Education was 62 years ago, African Americans are still fighting to have an equal education opportunity. “But many schools are as segregated today as they were before the ruling, and black children throughout the United States are performing at the bottom of the American educational system” (Jackson 1). Nevertheless, it took decades of hard work and struggle by numerous African Americans for a better education system. Education is the key to success, it gives people the knowledge that they need to strive and become more intelligent thinkers, which leads to more opportunities for them in the job industry. Ever since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination of any kind, African Americans have every right to have this equal educational opportunity like everyone else. But yet, they were stopped in their tracks by disapproving Americans, who confined the succession of African Americans in the education system. Now that we are in the 21st century, there’s still negligence on black’s education. The black community do not have equal education opportunities because of the lack of funding, poverty experienced by the children in the neighborhoods and society’s views of the black community.
The American society, more so, the victims and the government have assumed that racism in education is an obvious issue and no lasting solution that can curb the habit. On the contrary, this is a matter of concern in the modern era that attracts the concern of the government and the victims of African-Americans. Considering that all humans deserve the right to equal education. Again, the point here that there is racial discrimination in education in Baltimore, and it should interest those affected such as the African Americans as well as the interested bodies responsible for the delivery of equitable education, as well as the government. Beyond this limited audience, on the other hand, the argument should address any individual in the society concerned about racism in education in Baltimore and the American Society in
Affirmative action, the act of giving preference to an individual for hiring or academic admission based on the race and/or gender of the individual has remained a controversial issue since its inception decades ago. Realizing its past mistake of discriminating against African Americans, women, and other minority groups; the state has legalized and demanded institutions to practice what many has now consider as reverse discrimination. “Victims” of reverse discrimination in college admissions have commonly complained that they were unfairly rejected admission due to their race. They claimed that because colleges wanted to promote diversity, the colleges will often prefer to accept applicants of another race who had significantly lower test scores and merit than the “victims”. In “Discrimination and Disidentification: The Fair-Start Defense of Affirmative Action”, Kenneth Himma responded to these criticisms by proposing to limit affirmative action to actions that negate unfair competitive advantages of white males established by institutions (Himma 277 L. Col.). Himma’s views were quickly challenged by his peers as Lisa Newton stated in “A Fair Defense of a False Start: A Reply to Kenneth Himma” that among other rationales, the Fair-Start Defense based on race and gender is a faulty justification for affirmative action (Newton 146 L. Col.). This paper will also argue that the Fair-Start Defense based on race and gender is a faulty justification for affirmative action because it cannot be fairly applied in the United States of America today. However, affirmative action should still be allowed and reserved for individuals whom the state unfairly discriminates today.
On May 17, 1954, in the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education, the High Court, for the first time in American legal history, challenged the “separate but equal” doctrine previously established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and outlawed racial segregation in public schools. The decision, igniting fierce debates throughout the country, was met with violence and strong defiance in the South. The years after Brown, however, saw the passing of several important Acts: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Today, Americans remember Brown v. Board of Education as a success in African Americans’ struggle for equal rights, a change of sea tide for the civil rights movement. While Brown deserves its place in American History Books, its direct product – desegregation – is not the ultimate solution to the education for African Americans. Desegregation only amends the system of education. America has to reassess the word “education,” for black Americans and other minority groups to achieve a real equal education.
As an African American male, I experienced inequality, and judgment from individuals that have no idea what kind of person I truly am. As a youth, I received a lackluster education, which has resulted in me underachieving in a number of my college classes. It has come to my attention that other colored students are currently experiencing and receiving the same inadequate learning environment and educatio...
Although The Brown v. Board decision allowed African American children to attend schools with their white classmates, it has failed helping with access to these schools. It has been statistically proved that white dominated schools are able to offer more and better classes, along with more after school activities. Unfortunately, though these schools do exist, they are not available in areas where the African American population are higher than the white population. These schools with the resources available to promote the best academic accomplishments are not readily available to African American students as they are to white students. The students that do not have the ability to attend
One attempt made to correct this failure was the permanent desegregation of all public schools across the country. In the celebration of the Brown v. Board of Education all public schools were integrated with both races. Before this integration there were all white and all black schools. This was in favor of the idea of “separate but equal”. But, it was proven by the “woeful and systematic under funding of the black schools” things were separate but rarely equal. (Source 9) As a solution to this,it was decided that a fully integrated society began with the nation’s schools. (Source 9) Two years after one of the first integration of schools at Little Rock, Effie Jones Bowers helped desegregate the nearby school, Hall High School. The students were put into an all white school like at Central High School. According to one of the students, they were faced with vio...
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.
Today there is considerable disagreement in the country over Affirmative Action with the American people. MSNBC reported a record low in support for Affirmative Action with 45% in support and 45% opposing (Muller, 2013). The affirmative action programs have afforded all genders and races, exempting white males, a sense of optimism and an avenue to get the opportunities they normally would not be eligible for. This advantage includes admission in colleges or hiring preferences with public and private jobs; although Affirmative Action has never required quotas the government has initiated a benefits program for the schools and companies that elect to be diversified. The advantages that are received by the minorities’ only take into account skin color, gender, disability, etc., are what is recognized as discriminatory factors. What is viewed as racism to the majority is that there ar...
In the essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal” by Jonathan Kozol, the situation of racial segregation is refurbished with the author’s beliefs that minorities (i.e. African Americans or Hispanics) are being placed in poor conditions while the Caucasian majority is obtaining mi32 the funding. Given this, the author speaks out on a personal viewpoint, coupled with self-gathered statistics, to present a heartfelt argument that statistics give credibility to. Jonathan Kozol is asking for a change in this harmful isolation of students, which would incorporate more funding towards these underdeveloped schools. This calling is directed towards his audience of individuals who are interested in the topic of public education (seeing that this selection is from one of his many novels that focus on education) as well as an understanding of the “Brown v. Board of Education” (1954) case, which ties in to many aspects of the author’s essay. With the application of exemplum, statistics, and emotional appeals, Jonathan Kozol presents a well developed argument.
Over the past four-hundred plus years, racism has plagued the history of American society. The idea that one person is inherently better than another because of the color of their skin has always been present from our founding to today. During the rise of the Civil Rights movement in the mid 1900’s, racism was repeatedly being dealt blows by those brave enough to stand up for the rights they felt belonged to citizens of all shapes and colors. One important event that led to progress for people of color was the desegregation of the schooling systems. From young girls walking into all-white schools to black men being selected to participate in different academies, the Civil Rights movement to desegregate schools was influential in how progress
Published in American Educational Research Journal, this paper gives insight into how racial diversity stretches beyond educational engagement and social composition. The significant difference made by diversity-related efforts, such as hybridized racial interactions and policies is fully explored. The findings of the study presented can be generalized to the argument of institutional racism as this piece presents rationale against it. The limitations of paper is the insufficient detail regarding educational context needed to illustrate the steps institutions can take to apply diversity.
Once a school system drops their efforts to integrate schools, the schools in low-income neighborhood are left to suffer; not to mention that segregation in schools leads, not only to the neglect of schools, but the neglect of students as well. Resegregation quite literally divides the public schools into two groups “the good schools”, that are well funded, and “the bad schools”, that receive a fraction of the benefits-- more often than not the groups are alternatively labeled as “the white schools” and “the black schools” (and/or hispanic). Opportunities for the neglected students diminish significantly without certain career specific qualifications that quality education can provide-- they can’t rise above the forces that are keeping them in their situation.