The Importance Of School Segregation In The United States?

In his essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid,” Jonathan Kozol brings our attention to the apparent growing trend of racial segregation within America’s urban and inner-city schools (309-310). Kozol provides several supporting factors to his claim stemming from his research and observations of different school environments, its teachers and students, and personal conversations with those teachers and students.

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.

Why was segregation even a thing in the first place. I hate the thought of segregation because the people in my surroundings are so diverse and it’s awesome. Oh gosh, here comes the ranting!

“We've come a long way from the days where there was state-enforced segregation. But we still have a way to go.” said Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 1954, Brown v. Board pushed people to integrate schools and provide all students with an equal education, but recent studies show despite the large efforts made to desegregate that public schools are almost just as segregated, and in the same conditions as they were back in 1960. Segregation has once again started to take over public schools all over the nation, and stories and statistics show that racial and residential segregation are just as a big deal as they sound. For example, test score gaps have grown, and the quality of educations at schools that are primarily white, or black, are alarming.

America’s school system and student population remains segregated, by race and class. The inequalities that exist in schools today result from more than just poorly managed schools; they reflect the racial and socioeconomic inequities of society as a whole. Most of the problems of schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school or financial disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Because schools receive funding through local property taxes, low-income communities start at an economic disadvantage. Less funding means fewer resources, lower quality instruction and curricula, and little to no community involvement. Even when low-income schools manage to find adequate funding, the money doesn’t solve all the school’s

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 Jonathan Kozol “Still Separate Still Unequal” the author discusses how education for inner city school kids greatly differs from white school kids. “Schools that were already deeply segregated twenty-five or thirty years ago are no less segregated now” (Kozol 143). Although in 1954 the popular court case Brown vs Board of Education should have ended segregation in schools. The author shows how “the achievement gap between black and white children continues to widen or remain unchanged,” (Kozol 164) due to society’s grouping of privileges. Kozol relies heavily on logos to show how socio-economic privileges affects the education that inner city schools kids receive, those being blacks and Hispanics, compared to white schools kids.

Is racial segregation in schools coming back from the past to haunt our primary and secondary students? In the essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid” by Jonathan Kozol talks about how racial segregation is making a comeback and is becoming particularly apparent between low-income urban cities and wealthy upper suburban areas. In this essay, Kozol talks about his visits to these urban schools that aren’t getting much attention. These schools where the majority are kids of color and seem to be lacking resources that other “uptown” schools wouldn’t lack. Throughout the essay he gives the reader statistics of the demography of schools in different areas of the east coast. This really helps the reader understand his point of how racial

Two articles, The Facts about the Achievement Gap by Diane Ravitch and From Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid by Jonathan Kozol, provide facts about the crumbling education system in the inner cities of America. Schools there have shown to be segregated, poorly staffed, and underfunded. While the theme of both articles may be educational shortcomings, the content is surrounded by discussions of segregation. There are more underlying factors the authors are missing. Readers need to be rallied together in a unilateral cause to identify the issues affecting the nation’s education system, segregation is not one of them.

The Sixties successes are often denied or minimized diminishing all the gains since Brown v. Board of Ed (1954). The New York Times even noted that, the sixties and seventies school boundaries were redrawn to promote racial integration. The Times further disqualifies the idea by insisting neighborhoods lost their character, and results only produced lackluster academic achievements. Ironically, some of these neighborhoods remain at the same level of segregation as they did

The names Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Langston Hughes, Jackie Robinson, Fannie Lou Hamer and Thurgood Marshall are all civil rights heroes, not to be forgotten. However, Jonathan Kozol reveals that the schools he has had experience with that are named after these civil rights champions are actually dishonoring the dead. Professor Gary Orfield indicates that schools that are comprised mostly of minority students, less than 1% white, are essentially “apartheid schools.” There is a reciprocal action, “To give up on integration….requires us to consciously and deliberately accept segregation”(Orfield and Eaton, 20). It is noted that some of the reasons New York has this problem is due to government enforced school boundaries, housing segregation and non-enforced fair housing laws. Thus, the schools are named after the heroes in a show of respect and honor, yet their segregation is a dishonor to the namesakes. The racial isolation of the students leaves them feeling hidden, unwanted and inferior. This is a dishonor to those students and the people who fought so persistently for equal opportunities.

Segregation , slavery, abuse what more else can we go through? . Black African Americans often feels like the worst race in the world. We are more than what you see. We are not just ignorant , loud, ghetto and dimensional people. We go through and have been through a lot since the black police killings, and hard livings. We are more than athletics who can jump real high or run really fast. We are more than what you see.

When analyzing black-white school segregation, the trends associated with it can be divided into two periods: 1954 through the 1970s and the 1980s to the present. From 1954 through the 1970s, segregation drastically declined, but this was mainly seen after 1968 when court-ordered desegregation plans took effect. However, while within-district segregation declined, between-district segregation increased. Yet, from the 1980s to the present, the evidence is inconclusive on segregation. It is unclear whether schools are resegregating or progress has been stalled. When sociologists use two different measurements of segregation, exposure, which focuses on the racial composition of a school district, and unevenness, which focuses on the distribution

As I learn more about the realities of education, there was one issue that sparked my interest and passion – segregation. Though it is difficult to see first-hand, I can definitely see remnants of segregation through comparison of resources available at schools I’ve worked at. My belief that education serves as an accessible tool for social mobility led me to explore the issue of segregation with the perspective of a future educator. Over 50 years ago in the Brown v. Board of Education case, the Supreme Court deemed that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. With this in mind, I was under the impression that schools were not segregated (at least to a far lesser extent). However, I was shocked to learn that segregation in schools

How can racial segregation be separate, but equal? Racial Segregation is anything, but equal given the fact that the superior race (white) had more privileges, segregating schools gave the idea that children of color held lower status, and that in both cases Plessy v. Ferguson & Brown v. Board of Education were in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. With the separation of races the superior race would have more privileges. Segregating colored children from white children in schools created an idea that children of color held lower status in the community than white children. Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education were both taken to court, because of the inequality of racial segregation.