Why Did We Forget About Integration?

By dianeravitch

September 1, 2012 //

A good discussion on NPR about an important issue that has been swept under the rug.

The combination of racial segregation and poverty is toxic.

Categories Segregation , Racial Isolation and Integration

16 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

Jon Awbrey says:

September 1, 2012 at 6:34 pm

It is but corollary to the fact that market minds cannot grasp the concept of equal protection under the law.

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Linda says:

September 1, 2012 at 8:12 pm

Diane,

There is a premiere on the documentary channel now in CT titled “American Teacher”…it is narrated by Matt Damon..says 2011. Do you know about this?

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fsjenner says:

September 1, 2012 at 9:53 pm

It is an excellent film. Shown at special veiwings all across the country last year.

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debmeier says:

September 1, 2012 at 10:01 pm

Because it became convenient for whites to claim that it didn’t work and people of color were shunning it too. It was and is a way to hide our shame as white progressives about the choices we made for ourselves and our kids. When I arrived in NYC in 1966 I was told by too many of my progressive white friends that “no one could send their kids to public schools in NYC.” No one, except for 1.2 million children’s families whose childen attended them. It’s a long story and I wonder does anyone know of a good book on the subject???

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teachingeconomist says:

September 2, 2012 at 1:28 am

It seems to me that geographically based admissions requirements result in segregated schools. Perhaps a lottery system like that required of charter schools would result in less socioeconomic segregation in the school system.

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- Duane Swacker says:
  
  September 2, 2012 at 8:49 am
  
  TE,
  
  It’s interesting that I attended “geographically based” elementary schools-in the Catholic system in St. Louis-a self selected by parents geographically determined system. But if you didn’t “buy in”, i.e., pay every Sunday and be a Catholic, you didn’t get to participate.
  
  The lottery system that you speak of can never result in a truly representative sample of the range of students that the public school system deals with. It is self selective just as much as the Catholic system was/is (although now I understand they take anyone willing to pay). The only way would be to assign X number of slots for all the levels of various IEP/504 students, ELLs, and then be required to keep and educate all instead of weeding out the “less than desirable” students as now occurs with almost all of the charters.
  
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  - teachingeconomist says:
    
    September 2, 2012 at 11:30 am
    
    Individual school districts and individual school building have a huge range of student backgrounds. In my little school district (a little under 10,000 students), we have one public elementary school with less than 10% of economically disadvantaged students and another public elementary school with more than 70% economically disadvantaged students.
    
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Polly says:

September 2, 2012 at 8:17 am

Charters will act to re-segregate the U S.

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Middle school teacher says:

September 2, 2012 at 8:40 am

Magnet schools, as opposed to charter schools, can make a difference in some communities.

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- teachingeconomist says:
  
  September 2, 2012 at 11:16 am
  
  What is the difference between magnet and charter,schools? It seems to me that many of the criticisms made here of charter schools apply to magnet schools as well.
  
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  - debmeier says:
    
    September 2, 2012 at 11:44 am
    
    There are many kinds of magnets. But they are public–responsible to (well, once upon a time–) elected bodies. etc. But I agree that too many public schools have also found ways to be “choosy” about who they enrol–and sometimes magnet schools became schools for one or another form of gifted.
    
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  - teachingeconomist says:
    
    September 2, 2012 at 12:30 pm
    
    There does seem to be a need, however, to match school resources to student needs. If each building has only a couple of students with a particular need, it is not feasible to offer the specialized class or service that they require. If the students are grouped, that service or class becomes feasible.
    
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DonnaJ says:

September 2, 2012 at 11:18 am

To me it appears that Charter schools do nothing to help this disparity. In fact it might further this situation, which may be one of the goals of this so-called “reform” movement.

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- dianerav says:
  
  September 2, 2012 at 11:21 am
  
  Charter schools seldom have integration as one of their goals. Gary Orfield and the UCLA Civil Rights Project has issued reports warning that charters are more segregated than the district in which they are located.
  
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Sandra says:

September 2, 2012 at 11:27 am

What happened to the intent of Brown v. Board of Ed?

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Middle school teacher says:

September 2, 2012 at 4:19 pm

Brown v. Board has been substantially eroded, particularly by the Roberts court in the Louisville case. They held that federal law must be color-blind, therefore laws intended to fight segregated schools were unconstitutional because they established goals related to encouraging racial integration (affirmative action), even if the goals were voluntary! There are, however, magnets established pursuant to cases decided on the basis of state (rather than federal) constitutions (see, for example Sheff v. O’Neill in Connecticut).

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