EEOC: The Role Of Segregation In Education

Segregation back then was a difficult time to settle in for other race especially the black race. It first started in 1896 when the supreme court sanctioned legal separation of the black and white race. Every right a white man or woman had the black did not have, most business where white allowed only and a few welcomed blacks. In 1954 segregation ended, the brown vs board of education had ended segregation. In the present there has been no sign of segregation, but with our president he might bring it back.

This essay will be on the Segregation in Modern American Schools, how it affects the students, why it occurs, and the strides need to integrate. I picked this topic because I came from a town that was predominantly white. Therefore my school was predominantly white as well. I have always wondered if coming from this type of school has hindered my ability to interact with people of a different race, culture, or background. I also thought of how my education would have been different if I had been taught at a more diverse school. I would have learned more about other types of people not only from my teachers, but from my peers. I have always been interested in this topic and I think it affects more people than we think. Of course, it affects the students, but it also affects the teacher and the mass public. Culturally segregated schools are hindering learning environments. Black teachers teach at black schools, White teachers teach at white schools, so on and so forth with every race. The public is affected; because the schools in their area are not divers meaning their community is not diverse. Diversity is a catalyst for growth in all people. School and education is a great place to start the

In 1954, the Historic Brown vs. Board educational decision took place to discontinue racially separate schools. Today, students of all races come together in a safe environment to learn. However, in American schools one can currently find evidence of desegregation in the system. Racial integration has become a large problem in today’s school systems. Instead of getting better after the Brown vs. Board decision, it is steadily worsening. The schooling system has strived to reduce stereotypes and racial biases that their students struggle with, but one can find evidence of failure. Racial integration is a growing monster that is hovering over America’s schools. Once the monster grows too big, there may not be a solution to scare it away. The problem of segregation is seen through unawareness, unintentionality, and unacceptance.

Sixty years have passed since Brown v. Board of Education, the definitive supreme court case that outlawed segregation, and schools all around the U.S.A. look as if nothing has changed since then. The biggest difference is now it is not only African Americans who experience segregation, there also exists a problem with the segregation of social class. Many school districts have unequal distribution of educational resources and funding, resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy for students who are less fiscally privileged. School districts with more money get better test results, higher rates of graduation, and create a functional and safe learning environment.

In 1954, the Court had occasion to reconsider the “separate, but equal” doctrine delineated in Plessy. Just as Dred Scott is the origin of formalism, Brown v. Board of Education is the origin of judicial activism. The issue before the Court in Brown was whether segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other tangible factors may be equal, violates the Fourteenth Amendment. Because this was a similar, if not the same, issue presented in Plessy, stare decisis should have been applied to reach a different result.

Its sad to see that United States’s public schools are so segregated years after the civil rights act of 1964. Race and income are huge factors that aid in segregation of schools across America. More recently another factor has joined the others which would be wealthier families, preferably send their children to private schools rather than let them go to school with the children in their area. This gives children who aren’t as well off less hope that they desperately need. Income and Race keeping children separate needs to stop for all children to have the same opportunities.

One of the reason of segregation is unequal funding of schools, indigent neighborhoods have lower funding of schools. This is due to school funding being tied to property taxes. Poor neighborhoods have lower property values therefore lower school tax funds. Here is the solution that can be applied to solve this problem of school segregation.

Back then there was a harder fight towards segregation, it was harder to get problems solved or make a change. People were willing to go to jail and getting attacked to try to gain some equality for everyone. All those people that protested and fought against unjust laws helped the future gain more equality. Now we have so much more rights for everyone and are progressing faster towards helping us all have equality.

No one wants to be segregated against, yet it happens all of the time, now, and in the past. There are a lot of current examples of segregation that can be compared to what was happening in past events like WWII. Concentration camps and police brutality both dehumanized, the reeducation of gay men and the wage gap warped values, and the fact that we still have ghettos, all show how segregation is still in effect

"When you look at Brown you are looking at a moment so powerful it is the equivalent of the Big Bang in our solar system," says historian and commentator Juan Williams.

In 1948, a black American, George McLaurin, was accepted to the University of Oklahoma but treated with much disrespect. He sat in a desk roped off from the others in class, he ate lunch by himself, and he studied in a separate library. This is just one of the many things that occurred during the time of ‘separate but equal’. Due to the poor conditions in black schools under ‘separate but equal’, the main argument of the NAACP attorneys cases was to end segregation in schools, leading to the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision to integrate black and white public schools.

Since the court case Brown vs. Board of Educator, racial segregation seems to still be prevalent toward minorities. Though it’s been over sixty years, racial segregation is still happening in schools all over America. It seems as though many public schools are becoming more segregated the integrated; while blacks are more incarcerated then other racial groups. Although we have the “stand your ground” laws, many civil rights activists believe that it’s becoming increasingly racially bias.

Most people think that schools are segregated because the neighborhoods happened to be segregated but the truth is the areas who have mixed income and mixed ethnicity, the middle class families that are often white do not like to send their children to a public school with poor black and Hispanic children so they put their children in charter school or gifted and talented programs. Making most public schools filled with black and Hispanic children. The public school that has 36 students in New York City is a great example with 96% of other students being either black or Hispanic and with an income of $36,000. In the other hand the school was not always like this the school's income was $69,000 and 37% of the student population was either black

In the past and present segregation has been a major conflict in the world. Segregation is part of Spectrum of Intergroup Status which is a “Relationships between and among racial, ethic, and religious groups as well as other dominate-subordinate relationships are not static. These relations change over time, sometimes in one’s own lifetime”. Segregation is also relationship that is viewed “among a continuum from those largely unacceptable to the subordinate group”. Segregation in the past was very hopeless and harsh. During this time African Americans created the civil rights movements to fight for their freedom.

I live in Minnesota, and Minnesota schools are more segregated than it was fifteen years ago. This leads to a nationwide achievement gap between black and white students. If I had the necessary resources and materials at my disposal, the question I would want to answer would be how can we end the segregation of education that still exists today. I would research the effects of the inner city education system and how it affects black and brown children over their lifetime leading to the achievement gap, wealth gap, as well as contributing to the mass incarceration of black and brown people. I would answer this question by visiting schools that are segregated and schools that don’t have proper funding. I would use this research to see the different