Are American schools becoming resegregated? (colleges, public schools, computer science, GPA)
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The Supremem Court launched the desegregation of schools with Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Now, once diverse districts like Goldsboro, NC, are reverting to segregation, concerning civil rights advocates.
My questions:
Can the local school boards be held responsible for the segregation of schools when it's not that they are not making segregated assignments, it's that parents are taking advantage of school choice to voluntarily segregate?
Is racial diversity in and of itself a reasonable goal without any plans in place to address the issues that cause the segregation in the first place? How much of the responsibility for addressing those causes can reasonably be ascribed to the schools? Can we realistically hold the schools accountable even we continue to complain that Johnny isn't learning math because of "character education" requirements?
I think it could be time to take a closer look at existing school districts and their boundaries, although I certainly don't know enough about the political and legal ins-and-outs of the topic.
I agree that the school districts or boards themselves are only one part of the puzzle. And there are key differences between voluntary self-segregation by parents today and the forced segregation of the past. Still, I think segregated schools (and I'm really more concerned about economic segregation more than, or at least equally, as racial or ethnic segregation) are a major issue in this country, and should be addressed.
Can the local school boards be held responsible for the segregation of schools when it's not that they are not making segregated assignments, it's that parents are taking advantage of school choice to voluntarily segregate? Is racial diversity in and of itself a reasonable goal without any plans in place to address the issues that cause the segregation in the first place? How much of the responsibility for addressing those causes can reasonably be ascribed to the schools? Can we realistically hold the schools accountable even we continue to complain that Johnny isn't learning math because of "character education" requirements?
As far as I understand it, the problem basically breaks down like this:
People with money (more likely to be white), move off to an area that is pricey because it is a "good" area. These affluent people demand good schools, send their children to college, and do other things that ensure their children are successful. Those children go on to make a decent income, and continue to live in "good" areas. This is a self-reinforcing cycle.
People without money (more likely to be black), can't afford the "good" area (or maybe even choose not to because they feel out of place) so they make do with a mediocre or even downright "bad" area. Children of low income people do worse in school, the schools display poor performance, drop out rates are high, rates of continuing on to college are low. These children don't have as high a rate of success and more of them go on to make a lousy income and continue to live in "bad" areas. This is a self-reinforcing cycle.
So over time, people segregate themselves (this happens whether the divide fell along racial lines or not, we just notice it more because it currently does). Unless you're going to re-zone school districts such that they pluck children from the "good" area and take to the "bad" schools and pluck children from the "bad" area and take them to "good" schools, this isn't going to improve. It won't even stop if you do this, people will throw a fit and move some place where this isn't happening and continue the cycles. Even beyond that, if people can't get away from the racial/economic diversification, the cycles simply continue inside the schools. For example, I went to a high school that was majority hispanic (about 60% hispanic), but the AP classes were obviously majority white (heavily so, like over 90% white). You can guess how the honor roll, top 5% based on GPA at graduation, etc. broke down in terms of race/economics.
So no, I don't think you can hold schools responsible for the above economic issues. No, racial diversity can't be solved while ignoring the economic issues. And even if you somehow achieve a perfect racial mix in the good areas and bad areas eventually, economic segregation of this sort will still happen, we just won't see it breaking down along racial lines. There will always be some people that do better than other people for a variety of reasons.
As far as I understand it, the problem basically breaks down like this:
People with money (more likely to be white), move off to an area that is pricey because it is a "good" area. These affluent people demand good schools, send their children to college, and do other things that ensure their children are successful. Those children go on to make a decent income, and continue to live in "good" areas. This is a self-reinforcing cycle.
People without money (more likely to be black), can't afford the "good" area (or maybe even choose not to because they feel out of place) so they make do with a mediocre or even downright "bad" area. Children of low income people do worse in school, the schools display poor performance, drop out rates are high, rates of continuing on to college are low. These children don't have as high a rate of success and more of them go on to make a lousy income and continue to live in "bad" areas. This is a self-reinforcing cycle.
So over time, people segregate themselves (this happens whether the divide fell along racial lines or not, we just notice it more because it currently does). Unless you're going to re-zone school districts such that they pluck children from the "good" area and take to the "bad" schools and pluck children from the "bad" area and take them to "good" schools, this isn't going to improve. It won't even stop if you do this, people will throw a fit and move some place where this isn't happening and continue the cycles. Even beyond that, if people can't get away from the racial/economic diversification, the cycles simply continue inside the schools. For example, I went to a high school that was majority hispanic (about 60% hispanic), but the AP classes were obviously majority white (heavily so, like over 90% white). You can guess how the honor roll, top 5% based on GPA at graduation, etc. broke down in terms of race/economics.
So no, I don't think you can hold schools responsible for the above economic issues. No, racial diversity can't be solved while ignoring the economic issues. And even if you somehow achieve a perfect racial mix in the good areas and bad areas eventually, economic segregation of this sort will still happen, we just won't see it breaking down along racial lines. There will always be some people that do better than other people for a variety of reasons.
Great post. And studies have shown that the forced integration of schools didn't do much to alleviate the education problem in poorer neighborhoods, either.
Schools are becoming more desegregated naturally, because we're all human and we're marrying inter-racially. That will continue to happen.
At the same time, the public has realized and finally admitted that forced desegregation was an absurd failure, not so much because it brought children of different races together but because of the ridiculous costs involved and the insult to the dignity of both blacks and whites, who were told the lie that they can't get a full education unless there's a certain percentage of each other in the classroom. So some of the fake desegregation is melting away.
Overall, things are going in the right direction. They should, given how obsessed this nation is with this issue.
Schools are becoming more desegregated naturally, because we're all human and we're marrying inter-racially. That will continue to happen.
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Overall, things are going in the right direction. They should, given how obsessed this nation is with this issue.
Yes! I think people make far too much of the racial issue, as if when the racial devides close through mixed marriages and other means people will suddenly all live in harmony.
The truth is people will simply find some other devise to use (economic/educational/cultural) to distinguish themselves from the "others".
Free market segregates and self-selects on its own, despite attempts by commies to subvert natural selection and economic freedom
In most wealthy, highly educated regions like Silicon Valley or Manhattan, nearly anyone with money opts for private schools, even if academically strong public schools like PaloAlto exist, as physical safety risks need to also be valued
Even the most elite colleges have notoriously asymmetric distributions (and admit criteria) of kids among affirmative action admits, jocks, legacies, kids of major donors....and Computer Science or Finance majors
Similar segregation by skills and profitability exist at elite employers like Goldman (prop trading desks vs less important parts of firm) or Google (engineers vs IQ-free sales jobs)...mysteriously, lots of white/Jewish/Indian dudes among most highly-paid ranks at any elite employer
Humans will be humans and life will never be fair...yet lots of brown folks from poor, 3rdWorld places like India have been disproportionately represented at Stanford Engineering grad school (after legally migrating to US) for past 25++yrs...and/or amongst highest-paid engineers in SiliconValley or highest-paid traders in Manhattan...where are our Mexican or African-American or Chinese pals???
Seems like truly ambitious, capable folks rise to top of any meritocratic, profit-maximizing industry, no matter usual office politics and prejudices; many allegedly underrepresented, loudly complaining folks may suffer from a worse entitlement mentality or arrogance than any obnoxious, yet dim-witted trust fund kid...
People are "obsessed" with it because the reality, even today, even years after schools are supposedly equal, there are vastly different educational outcomes for students of different races. Much of that is due to historically racist policies. Racism might not be at the root of problems today (and I don't believe that it is), but segregated schools, generally speaking, are still not equal. It would be far easier to dismiss so-called voluntary segregation as a trend if, indeed, all the kids were actually getting the same quality education. They're obviously not.
All that said, I don't think integration should be the number one priority, and I do believe that today's issues are quite different from years past. But I'm also not ready to say that this doesn't matter anymore. Race has been perhaps overly used as shorthand for economic class.
I'd like to learn more about the options of rezoning school districts and other similar concepts; it seems like much larger school districts (or revamped ones that don't just have students of the same general socioeconomic background) coupled with desirable magnets and other programs will help make sure districts themselves aren't so segregated. I know it's not perfect -- my own education was in a district that is quite diverse, yet individual programs and schools did not always reflect that. Still, it's a start.
I do think we as a country can't afford to ignore segregation, but don't think it's fair to blame school districts, at least not without clear evidence that they are actually the ones to blame. It sounds like the district in the original post, for example, was trying to provide school choice and options for ALL of its students, as well as create some incentives to attend the mostly black city high school; that makes it sound like they're trying to do something. School districts can't do it all on their own, and definitely need broader support and potentially big changes to get it done.
THe segregation is more economical now in our area. The flight is no longer White Flight to the suburns, it is Middle/Upper Class Flight. Those who can afford it, regardless of race, are opting for the 'good' public school (magnet or suburban around here), charter schools or private schools.
Therefore, schools are segregated by economic levels...greatly. I know as many african american who are leaving city public schools as white families. What they have in common is their income and desire for a safe, quality education for their kids.
I'd like to learn more about the options of rezoning school districts and other similar concepts; it seems like much larger school districts (or revamped ones that don't just have students of the same general socioeconomic background) coupled with desirable magnets and other programs will help make sure districts themselves aren't so segregated. I know it's not perfect -- my own education was in a district that is quite diverse, yet individual programs and schools did not always reflect that. Still, it's a start.
I think you're underestimating the forces of economic self-segregation here. If you rezone a good/pricey school district, over time affluent people will move away from it into a new good/pricey area, or opt out all together into private school. Even if they can't, self-segregation will happen anyway as I'm about to discuss.
I have personal experience here that I mentioned above. I went to a magnet high school where the overall student body was about 60% hispanic. The desirableness of the school due to it's magnet status meant that a district wide lottery was held for the open seats in the incoming freshman class after accounting for the kids for whom this was their home school.
If you were picked in the lottery, you got into this school. If you didn't, you went to your home school. I was entered in the lotto and wasn't picked, but the school district basically cheated the system and made sure I got into that school because I'm white in the name of diversity.
I was given an advantage due to being white, through a program that was started in the name of helping minorities. Go figure. And despite all this effort, the school self-segregated anyway. AP classes were over 90% white.
Now, I know my anecdotal evidence may not be representative of overall data, but I would bet you money that it is. Personally, I don't think economic diversification in order to address educational disparity can be done. There's no way to address economic disparity without resorting to some sort of communist/socialist scheme of redistributing resources, which is worse than the original problem and in the long run doesn't work.
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And despite all this effort, the school self-segregated anyway. AP classes were over 90% white. 
