ECE 384

December 11, 2012

Position Statement

Resegregation of Public Schools

            As our nation is becoming more and more diverse, Public Schools are becoming more and more segregated.  According to a study, more than 1 in 6 African-American children attend a school that is 99 to 100 percent minority (Nikravan 1).  Resegregation of Public Schools are often over looked because we are in the 21st century and many people do not pay too much attention to it anymore because they think it has been fixed.  The Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Civil Rights Project has stated that Latino and African-American student’s today compromise 80 percent of the student population in extreme poverty schools (Nikravan 1). Many people want children to grow up in a diverse environment with well- funded public education because America has become so diverse throughout the decades. So why is there a problem?  In America, there are still some states that are having integration problems.  The most segregated schools, which document desegregation trends, are in big cities of the Northeast and Midwest. The South and West – and rural areas and small towns generally – offer minority students a bit more diversity (Paulson 1).  However, according to the United States Constitution,  “No State shall deny to any person the equal protection of the laws” (Scholastic News 1).  It should not matter whom you are sitting next to in class, as long as you are getting a good education.

            Over 60 years ago, a seven -year old girl, Linda Brown, was rejected from an all –white school in Topeka, Kansas as she was in the process of registering for public schooling.  The Kansas school system and others around the nation thought that it was okay for black students and white students to attend “separate but equal” schools (Scholastic News 1).  However, this made her father furious as he thought it was an unethical practice that was used by the school system.  In order for something to change, he decided he would sue the school system and his case went to the Supreme Court under Brown’s name.  In 1954, in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional (Nikraven 1).  As I just stated, the constitution says, “No state shall deny to any person the equal protection of the laws” (Scholastic News 1).  The main point that the court and Linda’s father were trying to argue is that Public schools cannot separate students based on race.  The final outcome of this case was decided by the Justices when they ruled 9-0 that segregating public schools meant that black students were not being treated equally (Scholastic News 1).

            Before the Brown v. Board of Education Case, schools for white and black students were almost all separated into two different schools no matter what.  Without the Brown v. Board of Education decision being passed, education would not be the same today. Now, everyone, no matter what race, is granted the same educational opportunities throughout America. Nonetheless, recent studies have shown that in some regions of the country, segregation is still happening.

            About 60 years later after the Brown v. Board of Education case, unfortunately, there are still problems with segregation in Public schools. This is unfortunate because Educators should be worrying more about increasing our education in public schools for our children. In 2000 and 2001, the most segregated groups were white students; they typically attend schools with a student population of 80% or more white students (The Negro Educational Review 94).  Many people say that there are problems in Public Schools because some students get treated differently by what race they are.  There are some people who are still feeling separate from other races because of how they are stereotyped. The fastest trend towards re-segregation for black students in the U.S. is occurring in the South, where these students attend increasingly segregated schools (The Negro Educational Review 94).

            During the 1990’s, blacks who were attending majority-white schools decreased by thirteen percentage points.  This was the lowest it has ever been since 1968.  This means that public schools are continuously resegregating. In the same decade, white enrollment fell substantially in schools attended by black students. The average black student now attends a school that is just one-third white (Fighting School Resegregation 1). The problem with resegregation in public schools is that children are not getting an equal education. 

            Resegregation hurts minority students the most by giving them an education that they deserve. It leads to schools with higher concentrations of poverty, less-qualified teachers, weaker curriculums and lower test scores (Fighting School Resegregation 1).  This does not lead students to move onto a higher education, such as a college degree.  Without a college degree theses days, it is less likely that they will be able to find a job.  Much of the blame goes to the courts' increased hostility to desegregation suits. In 1991, the Supreme Court radically altered the standard for freeing school districts from desegregation orders (Fighting School Resegregation 1).

            Everything seemed to have taken a bigger turn in education for resegregation in Public Schools when President Bush came up with the “No Child Left Behind Act”.  President Bush thought that by creating the NCLB education in America would increase.   President Bush announced that NCLB was necessary because "too many of our neediest children are being left behind” (The Negro Educational Review).  Unfortunately, the NCLB is leaving children behind and showing that a lot of public schools are doing poorly on these standardized tests, meaning many people are taking their children out of public schools and sending them to private or charter schools. This is helping America resegregate public schools because mostly white families can afford to send their children to these schools.  This is leaving minority children behind and now minority children are making up more of the population in public schools than the privileged students.

            In the past 10 years. Latinos have grown 45 %, from 22.4 million to 32.4 million students. This group is the most segregated group and show signs of becoming more segregated by language and cultural traditions (The Negro Educational Review 94). It is also said that Latino students now have the most drop- outs throughout middle school and high school in America. Also, as I said earlier, the average black student now attends a school that is just one-third white. Public schools, the Harvard report concludes, have been undergoing a "process of continuous resegregation" (Fighting School Resegregation 1).  This shows that the no child left behind act is leaving children left behind because not all children who live in America are getting an equal education if they say that charter schools educate children better than public schools.  The No Child Left Behind Act makes it clear that schools are still not equal in the United States. Our goal should be to focus on creating further divisions and racial segregation in our public schools (The Negro Educational Review 96).  The No Child Left Behind Act seems to be increasing resegregation in our public schools and so do Charter Schools.  If a reform law doesn’t get passed soon to address the resegregation issue, Charter schools and the NCLB will be what tore this country apart again.

            All in all, our nation has been very inconsistent with segregation in public schools.  It has gone from improving our public school systems to decreasing them in a matter of years.  No matter what it seems that it is impossible to get it right. Nonetheless, if it were not for the Brown v. Board of Education, education would not be as successful as it has been since 1954. Although resegregation has improved since the 1950’s, it still exists today. Resegregation is a tough problem with many causes (Price 1).  It is pretty clear that resegregation in the United States is still an issue for us.

Works Cited

DePaul University Libraries: EZ Proxy Login. Web. 2 Dec 2012.             <http://content.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.lib.depaul.edu/pdf9/pdf/2005/QQB            /01Jan05/16473185.pdf?T=P>.

DePaul University Libraries: EZ Proxy Login. Web. 2 Dec 2012.             <http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.lib.depaul.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfvie            wer?sid=fd26e26b-02f3-4817-b848-fd3c5710e553@sessionmgr4>.

"Fighting School Resegregation." Race Matters. Web. 2 Dec 2012.             <http://www.racematters.org/fightingschoolresegregation.htm>.

Nikravan, Laden. "U.S. Public Schools See Resegregation." Diversity Executive             Magazine. 15 Feb. 2011. Web. 2 Dec 2012. <http://www.diversity-           

            executive.com/article.php?article=1078>.

Paulson, Amanda. "Resegregation of U.S. Schools Deepening - CSMonitor.com." The             Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com. 25 Jan. 2008. Web. 2 Dec 2012.             <http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2008/0125/p01s01-ussc.html>.

Price, Sean. "Charter Schools: Resegregating America?" Teaching Tolerance. 5 Feb. 2010. Web. 2 Dec 2012. <http://www.tolerance.org/blog/charter-schools-resegregating-america>.