10/7/14

The article I read for this blog post is a Huffington Post article that discusses racial segregation in schools and the relation of income to segregated school. It is a fact that 43% of Latinos and 38% of black students are enrolled in “intensely segregated schools” in which are at most 10% white. On the contrary, white students usually attend schools that are 75% white. There is a clear divide. I found it almost comical that two of the three most integrated states in terms of education are Kansas and Nebraska. I’m curious to know what the percentage of minority population is in these states to begin with. Poor schools that have a high minority population tend to have less resources, less qualified teachers, higher teacher turnover rates, lower quality facilities and materials. These factors widen what is called the Minority Achievement Gap. Fact, “On average, African-American and Latino high school seniors perform math and read at the same level as 13-year-old white students.” I find this incredibly concerning. The black high school graduation rate staggers behind that of white students. “Re”-integrating the schools would more equally distribute the resources and advantages that are associated with dominantly white schools. Even the highest achieving students living in low income are less likely to make it through college, graduating with a degree. 

I found this article very disturbing. It’s discouraging that the income you are born into has such control over your path of education, regardless of how high you achieve. As a country we feel that we have come so far since the Civil Rights Era, but looking at how our schools are functioning nationally it is apparent which race will achieve higher for yet another generation. 

 “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” 

-Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion

This rule of physics can apply to the direction our education system is going. Unless we make a legitimate effort to even the educational opportunities across the country, nothing will change. Looking at our schools right now really makes me wonder, how far has Brown vs. Board of education has actually taken us.