John Oliver, one of our nation’s sharpest commentators on the subject of education, did an excellent report on school segregation, which has been rising over many years (mainly because increasingly conservative judges began abandoning school desegregation in the 1980s).
A stunning statistic:
In 1988, there were 2,762 schools with one percent or less white children; by 2011, that number had ballooned to 6,727 (via Propublica).
The South, he notes, is now the most desegregated region of the country. The state with the most racial segregation is New York!
What if Race to the Top had offered its billions of prize money to states that offered and implemented ambitious plans to desegregate their schools. That would have made the $4.35 billion worthwhile. Instead, we have battles over high-stakes testing, Common Core, and charter schools. To what end?
In the Trump era, will anyone care about school desegregation? We will see.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane,
It may be that racial isolation has been one of the most powerful drivers of Trumpism. Interaction across difference can undermine the prejudices that enable ignorance-driven hatred and resentment. There is no greater priority than school, neighborhood and workplace diversity to build an inclusive movement to defend democracy and the rights of one another. http://www.arthurcamins.com
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Take it one step further and we can see that not only are our nation’s poorest schools ever more segregated, but “racial isolation” has actually come to mean jail cells for those students who, for one reason or another, cannot win at the “choice” school game.
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Buffalo is a prime example. So much of the desegregation from the 1970s has been undone. First by white flight along with availability of private or parachial schools, with the final death knoll from the charters.
Those charter schools which are placed in minority neighborhoods tend to be 99% to 100% minority. Those charters in the “better” neighborhoods have a higher percentage of white students. The results of the assessments match the student populations. The public schools, while more integrated, still reflect the student populations in the area with the same results.
However, there are several magnet schools with a varied population (but more white kids than the others). Some of these are controversial since they contain the better students (of all backgrounds) and are seen as being elitist. They also have some (actually quite bit), but still not as many ESL or special needs kids as some of these other schools, so their testing results are higher.
All the high schools require applications (the students ranking which schools they want to attend) and the better ones have admission requirements, so while some high schools have a good mix of students, the leftovers are almost entirely children of color or special needs. The do have certain schools which specialize in ESL since Buffalo has a large refugee population with over fifty languages being spoken. The Regent Exam results reflect these dynamics.
However, there are some great opportunities out there such as City Honors, Olmsted Gifted and Talented, Performing Arts, DaVinci (on a college campus), Middle College (tied to an Associates Degree from ECC), Emerson Culinary, Hutchinson Technical, MST (Math, Science, and Technology) and various vocational schools or special programs within the high school such as horticulture and finance. There is even a guarantee to pay the tuition of Buffalo students who want to go to college (with lots of choices, not just local schools).
Yet the results can only as good as the attitude and effort of the students, but that is another issue.
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Red Bank, NJ: “McLaughlin’s kids attend regular public schools in Red Bank and she’s upset because they get $2,000 per pupil less in state aid than the 200 kids attending Red Bank Charter School. But the charter outrages McLaughlin and some other parents for another reason.“Segregation is real. And I mean, Red Bank is a great town. People come here because of its diversity and its reputation for the arts. And it’s also got the most segregated school district in New Jersey,” said Wayne Woolley, Red Bank district parent.
“It just felt like one of the worst cases of segregation we had seen in a publicly-funded school,” said Frank Argote-Freyre, director of the Latino Coalition.”
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Link for the above quote: http://www.njtvonline.org/news/video/groups-file-complaints-red-bank-charter-school/
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I was very fortunate to have spent my career teaching poor, minority ELLs in an integrated New York State school district. Our district had a range of socio-economic levels as well as a range of cultures. Our poor minority students benefited tremendously from attending safe, well resourced schools. We had about an eighty-six percent college attendance rate. Many of my ELLs attended college and have careers in business, education, social services and healthcare. We had some moments of strife as well, but strife exists with all people. Overall, the payoff is enormous, and everyone is healthier and more tolerant in an integrated school. Students learn to judge each other from the content of their character. Separate is never equal.
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Lovely….
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On the other hand, some would argue:
It’s CLASS, not RACE, that is the greater divider.
“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” W Buffett
“The establishment, keeps enforcing what divides people rather than what unites people by embracing identity politics and ignoring class”.
“Emphasizing class-based policies, rather than gender or race-based solutions, will achieve more for the broad swathe of voters.”
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And, to whom, does Buffett give his philanthropic money? He gives it to Bill Gates, to spend on neoliberal schemes, that harm the poorest. IMO, Buffett is creating a paper trail, hoping to protect himself, when the revolutionaries take over. For an old man who claims to be giving away his fortune in his lifetime, he remains awfully high on the richest men lists.
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Linda, I am just old enough to be jarred by this phrase
“neoliberal schemes, that harm the poorest”
Not seeing where the “liberal” comes in at all.
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“It’s CLASS, not RACE, that is the greater divider.”
Race is class.
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How do you account for the West Virginia mayor who, recently, disparaged Michelle Obama?
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I don’t know anything about it. But to the extent it relates to race, then it relates to class, because race is an aspect of class.
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Since the 1970’s parents who had the means fled public schools for private.
No matter what your ethnicity children whose parents could afford it started attending private vs public school a very long time ago in the largest cities such as NYC, L.A. and S.F.
In late 1970’s Los Angeles schools in the Valley were overrun by portables as kids were bused in from downtown.
instead of the wait and see attitude parents left in droves and never looked back.
How this can turn around beats me.
But wait no problem- Gov. Brown found a way to graduate everyone! He abolished the high school exit exam last year so he’s handing out diplomas like Halloween candy. Even retroactive from 2008.
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And, in Ohio (which has a graduation test that politicians and most white collar and blue collar workers can’t pass), there will be a huge increase in the number of young adults without diplomas. How’s that a win?
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This time it is not about race — it is about ability and behavior — they take the money and then expel the students.
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Ohio taxpayers are spending $500,000 in legal fees to get back $60,000,000 from a school that the Ohio Department of Ed. describes as having mostly truant students.
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Obviously, it’s a charter school with well-connected political ties.
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RE: NoBrick’s & Flerp’s! prior comments: every year, the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society, Inc. (of New Orleans) holds “Words & Music, a Literary Feast in New Orleans. (The group’s mission is “providing realistic assistance to developing writers, staging entertaining & enlightening programming for dedicated readers, & creating literary initiatives for those at risk for illiteracy.” This year’s theme was “The Dark Side of Literature & Life,” & one of this year’s awards went to Nancy Isenberg (also a guest speaker at the Saturday luncheon), She is a best-selling New York Times author, &–such as the thread of this post, I would highly recommend her book “White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America.” I started to read it &, also, listening to her talk, I’m sure all of you would find it a well-researched trove of information–facts & events that you had never heard of or realized before. I can’t wait to read the whole book! (I requested a library copy; every copy there sold.) I’m looking forward to having a better understanding of the class/race issues in America.
“Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.”
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The quote, above, is from Edmund Burke, an Anglo-Irish 18th century statesman, orator, political theorist & philosopher.
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Sorry–one learns something new every day!–according to Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” is attributed to Burke. Didn’t know that. A statement for all time.
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