The end of Brown v. Board of Ed?

It will likely be years before the full impact of the Supreme Court’s latest school integration decision is clear.  In the meantime, there’s plenty of commentary to keep us busy.

Just have time to read one thing?  My recommendation is NPR senior correspondent and biographer of Thurgood Marshall, Juan Williams, who takes the controversial position that “it is time to acknowledge that Brown’s time has passed” in his New York Times OpEd “Don’t Mourn Brown v. Board of Education.”

Desegregation does not speak to dropout rates that hover near 50 percent for black and Hispanic high school students. It does not equip society to address the so-called achievement gap between black and white students that mocks Brown’s promise of equal educational opportunity.

And the fact is, during the last 20 years, with Brown in full force, America’s public schools have been growing more segregated — even as the nation has become more racially diverse. In 2001, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that the average white student attends a school that is 80 percent white, while 70 percent of black students attend schools where nearly two-thirds of students are black and Hispanic…

...Racial malice is no longer the primary motive in shaping inferior schools for minority children. Many failing big city schools today are operated by black superintendents and mostly black school boards.

And today the argument that school reform should provide equal opportunity for children, or prepare them to live in a pluralistic society, is spent. The winning argument is that better schools are needed for all children — black, white, brown and every other hue — in order to foster a competitive workforce in a global economy.

Want to hear Juan Williams instead of reading him?  Try his NPR conversation with Renee Montagne.

Looking for balanced television coverage of the decision?  Try NewsHour.

Have hours and hours?  Google News is your source for EVERY. ARTICLE. EVER. WRITTEN.  It’s overwhelming, but a great resource.

Labels: Conversations, Resources

I think that a lot of people tend to go where they are comfortable.

Posted by Adam on June 29, 2007 3:03 PM

This is so complex. I think this issue is inextricably linked to affordable housing issues. But of course race and socio-economic status have always been entwined in US History. We like to believe that education changes that, and where it works, it does, but is it worth busing students an hour each way, to where it makes it nearly impossible for parents to be involved in their children’s education? Can we trust the American school system to desegregate without legislature nowadays?

I wonder where Kozol stands on this issue.

Posted by jimpud2 on July 4, 2007 10:03 AM

As long as local property taxes are the primary source of education funding, there will be inequity in public education. That said, attempts to diversify school populations are of value to the nation. I firmly believe that children who grow up alongside others who are of different shades and ethnic backgrounds are less likely to end up as bigots.

This court ruling makes it nearly impossible for school districts to work toward diversity. The court offered no mechanism to replace the ones it threw out. I believe it is a step backward.