December 26th, 2006 by: Ashley
Louisville and Seattle schools hoping to maintain ability to racially integrate students
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4.25″ x 11″ watercolor, Seattle skyline
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From the classroom to the conference room, racial diversity is a term carefully studied and implemented. My takeaway from this concept is that it’s strived for and regarded is a mark of excellence. But the means of getting there are not as morally clear as the end result itself.
Earlier this month, two cases were heard by the Supreme Court regarding affirmative action voluntarily utilized by public schools in both Louisville, KY and Seattle, WA to create racial integration. The 1954 case of Brown vs. the Board of Education led to actions ensuring schools opened their doors to all students. Schools, like many in Louisville and Seattle, continue to implement such practices. In these cities, race is one of many factors considered in deciding where a child attends school. This might result in denied acceptance to the school of a student’s choice because no more room is available for a student of their race.
To some, this practice seems noble, especially when many communities self-segregate. Since racial diversity is so highly regarded, we owe it to our children to secure that their lives are not void of people of other ethnicities, right? Apparently, that depends on who you ask.
Seeing racial integration through to fruition without bringing into question what is unconstitutional is not clear (per the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment). Should a student be denied acceptance to a school in his or her own neighborhood because their race “quota” has been maxed out? On the flipside, should we allow for segregation to potentially grow organically if communities are left mold their own student body? How do you achieve racial integration without racial means? Is it truly academically beneficial to a student to attend an integrated school? Who is to judge? These are all tough questions with no easy answers.
Supposedly, all public schools are equal, so it shouldn’t matter which school a child attends. Anyone who believes this has clearly not stepped foot into two schools on opposite sides of any city. The intention is good, but the ironic method to achieve it, using race to eliminate discrimination by race, is debatably ethical.
There seems to be a split down the middle of opinions on the topic. So, in the spirit of constructive debate, I invite your thoughts. Where would you stand if your child were placed in these circumstances? What if you were the same parent, only you had experienced, first-hand, the Civil Rights Movement as a minority? Please share your stance and/or personal experience.
3 Comments
December 27th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
According to what I’ve read, the cases with Louisville and Seattle were brought because the cities claim to reach for universal diversity, but are using different measurements for diversity for different school districts, and hence busing/preferential placement is taking place in only selected districts of each city. The people that brought the suit claim that if these practices were beneficial, they should apply equally to all school districts within the city.
December 27th, 2006 at 3:20 pm
First of all, GORGEOUS painting of Seattle! I love it.
As to the content of your post, this is why school choice is so crucial. Let the parents decide which school is best for their child, and have a lottery to select from those who apply, regardless of race. Barring that, I can see economic disadvantage as a valid criteria, but on the basis of the color of one’s skin it makes no sense.
In my neighborhood in Los Angeles, we have voluntary busing, where students from inner city neighborhoods have the opportunity to go to a better school in the suburbs, and we have busloads of kids of every color who arrive at the local high school each morning. It seems to work, though a better solution would be to make sure every child has a local school that provides an excellent education.
I was a child of forced busing in 6th grade in LA, and in 1979 I had to catch a bus at 6:30 every morning that took me an hour away to a much worse school (my parents were diehard public school supporters). True, I did have friends who were black and Latino, but I had also had the same in my local elementary school with the kids who had been voluntarily bused.
In any case, I think people tend to forget that diversity is more than just the color of one’s skin. In our local suburban elementary school, which does not have kids bused in, I’ve heard that there are kids from about 30 different countries represented. I don’t know what color their skins are, but THAT is diversity.
January 4th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
It’s really something to watch you paint! Your paintings say a lot about what’s going on in your head
As to your post, the way schools districts are determined here in the USA is really interesting. I came from Brazil and we don’t have that, which means anyone can go to any school one wishes to go, even if the schools is on the other side of the city. It’s a real problem though what you posted about… there’s a fine balance between the law (how the districts are formed) and the right of education and the need to cultural diversity in schools… all which are important for the everybody’s good.
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