Equal Protection And Public Education : Ability Grouping And Tracking

We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other “tangible” factors may be equal, deprive the minority group of equal opportunities? We believe that it does. We conclude that in the field of public education, the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiff and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are by reason of the segregation complained of deprived of the equal

In his article, “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid”, Jonathan Kozol points out, whether we are aware or not, how American public schools are segregated. Schools that were segregated twenty-five to thirty years ago are still segregated, and schools that had been integrated are now re-segregating. The achievement gap between black and white students, after narrowing for a few decades, started to widen once again in the early 1990s when federal courts got rid of the mandates of the Brown decision and schools were no longer required to integrate.

This paper is about the ways in which desegregation was used to address equality of education post Brown v. Board of education (1954). I will discuss the challenges of desegregation, what challenges minority students still face in America 's public schools post Brown v. Board, and how might we transform education so that all students receive equal opportunity according to Dewey and Paolo.

As documented in the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” written by Rebecca Skloot, Henrietta lived her childhood in the segregated rural south. There was no real inspiration for her to attend school, much less develop a strong interest in getting a formal education. Segregation contributed to a cycle of oppression and poverty that affected Henrietta’s knowledge, and quality of life. The unfair early education laws, impaired all black children’s potential to learn, and negatively affected their confidence. America has laws that intend on producing, equal education for all children regardless of economic circumstances, race, religion, or academic ability level. On the other hand, a studied by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, find that “public school, especially in the south, is becoming re-segregated at a surprising level.”(Hancock Jones) Today there is evidence that suggest public education still needs equal protection reform in order to give all children a high quality education.

Guardians of six African American elementary school children, in San Francisco filed a suit against the California Department of Education in 1971. The offended party represented a class of African American children who had been placed – or later in the future be placed in a special education class called EMR “educable mentally retarded.” The EMR classed was designed for children who were found to be incapable of learning in a regular class. Keeping them from developing the necessary skills for them to return to a regular school environment. The offended parties challenged the process of the standardized individual intelligence tests. Expressing that it was one-sided against African American children, which can cause an increased socioeconomic

“Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system.” Through this quote, the Warren Court thoroughly established why separate is not and has never been truly equal in regards to public education since segregation consequently lays down a system that has a damaging effect on the psyche of young African-American students leading them to deem themselves as inferior to Caucasians. Moreover, it causes African-American students to internalize their feelings of inferiority which causes them to have a lack of motivation in their education, slow their learning and mental growth, and miss out on achieving their full educational potential. Furthermore, one can assume that segregation could cause African-American students to mistakenly consider themselves as less academically and

There clearly is a problem right now in American schools. The gap in educational outcomes between students of different races and ethnicities is fairly substantial. Although there could be numerous explanations of why this inconsistency exists, I have chosen to focus on one issue stemming from an economic obstacle.

Even in the 21st century the United States public school system is once again becoming segregated by race. Results of research show there are several factors involved in this trend, including housing discrimination and the United States Supreme Court granting the states sovereignty to govern their own policies on school desegregation; even going so far as to say the policies employed by states to desegregate based on race were unconstitutional. This topic addresses the issues causing resegregation and the ideas set forth to alleviate the problem and insure equal education for all children, regardless of race or socio-economic status.

We have come to understand public education in the United States as a core principle of one’s rights as a citizen in spite of it not explicitly guaranteed within the Constitution. Despite the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, we continue to witness the fight for complete and total integration within our public schools and thus, racial equality. The 14th Amendment forbid states from denying any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, but was unclear in terms of it’s exact intention with respect to public education. As a result, were unable to see the effective use and enforcement of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments until approximately the 1940s for a number reasons, but I believe that structural racism is the foremost cause. Today, we find ourselves struggling to achieve full integration within our public school system due to the covert intentions behind structural racism and therefore, it’s ability to overpower the law. Structural racism has the ability to impact legal authority in such a way where we end up with a lack of appropriate enforcement legislation at the Supreme Court level and a lack of acknowledgement and remedies for de jure segregation and thus, it is the primary cause of the current segregation within the American public school system.

The problem of educational disparities among various ethno-racial groups that make up the United States has been a long studied topic. Theories have ranged widely in what they consider as the primary factors for these disparities. Biological and individualist perspectives have cited inherent genetic inferiorities as the cause of these disparities. Others have taken into account social forces but have maintained that the cause is due to the creation of a culture of subordination and poverty that does not allow social advancement. Still others have tended to focus on systemic inequalities and on the roles of prejudice and discrimination (Sidanius et al, 1998).

When analyzing the implications a tracking system has on educational outcomes among middle-class students in private schools, Adam Gamoran found that ability grouping is not equitable. This is due to the evidence reflecting that “in the U.S. tracking leads to inequality as students in schools with a tracking system do better than those in general or vocational tracks” (Gamoran, 2000, 235). For example, when students are placed in high tracks, they are more likely to achieve academic success compared to their low track counterparts. Therefore, while high track students are gaining from this system, low track students are at a disadvantage of falling behind (Gamoran, 2000). This ties into the unequal instruction provided to students placed in high tracks versus those placed in low tracks. According to Gamoran, high track students are placed in courses that better prepare them for college and are taught by instructors that spend more time preparing for classes, are more experienced, and inculcate critical thinking skills in their students. On the other hand, low track students are taught through worksheets and recitation and are assigned to instructors that spend more time on behavior management as opposed to actual instruction. However, because

We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does...We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

With landmark Supreme Court decisions in regards to education such as Brown v Board of Education, which made segregation within schools illegal, one would be inclined to believe that modern schools are void of any inequality. However, at a deeper glance, it is apparent that there is a glaring inequality within public school systems at the national, statewide, and even district-wide level. Such an inequality has drastic results as the education one receives has a high correlation to the college they will attend, and the job they will work. It is in society's best interest that public school systems be improved to equally supplement students with the tools necessary to succeed. While the public school system aims to reduce the inequality within it, they have proven ineffective in guaranteeing children of all races and economic classes an equal education.

Social, cultural and political changes have immense influences on the education sector. This has been witnessed from the onset African and Asian immigration into the United States from 1954 till present times. During the last quarter of the 20th century, immigrants to the US were denied education and those who received education did so under great threats. The dominant view of society about immigrants during this period was extremely negative and rejecting; thereby not deserving of an education. Currently, the education has been made affordable to everybody due to changing atmosphere of unprecedented social change. In education, this change resulted in the legal dismantling of segregated education for African American children (Collins, 2008). As African American children integrated the schools in the United States, they came to school with the stigma of slavery and the negative attitudes held by the agents of the educational institution. Attitudes and held perceptions were the catalyst for constructions such as biased assessment and the retardation paradigm. From these constructions emerged practices in special education that held large numbers of African American students captive in not only the educational milieu, but also limited their work potential. For this reason, the sociopolitical landscape as a context for curriculum, instruction, and assessment has continued to play a significant role in the education

America is often enamored of itself as the champion of equality in every aspect of its society; however, this is often not the case. This is true in every aspect of life, but is very evident specifically in the American education system. Although America claims to give an equal education to all, regardless of any external factors, economic class often plays a role in what type and how good of an education a student may receive. Since education is the basis for future success, this inequity resulting from socioeconomic status implies that this is where inequality in everyday life starts, and that the system generates this inequality. If this is true, then one might ask, what then is the purpose of education? If economic class predetermines