On June 28th, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision
on whether or not the public school districts in Seattle and Louisville can
voluntarily use race-conscious measures to avoid racial isolation and
achieve racial diversity in their elementary and secondary schools (Parents
Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District, 05-908 and
Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, 05-915).
Here is a good website about all the chatter around this.
I have been reading a lot about it and am not sure what I think about it. On the surface, it seems like a major step backward from the Brown Vs. Board of Education decision, but then this whole story also makes me think about the issue more personally. I am from a school district that changed dramatically because there was mandatory bussing of kids from an hour away to achieve diversity. Bowie and Kettering and Landover (my areas of schooling) were already pretty racially diverse (muchmuchmuchmuch more so than my current hometown of Princeton NJ!).
And I could not help but notice that bussing kids in from so far away seemed to encourage a detachment on their part from the high school community. They were the least likely to get involved in extra-curriculars, more likely to get into fights, etc. probably because they had a huge commute every day that had them out of their house from like 5:30 am till 6:00 pm!! In an area like Prince Georges County, known for its crappy public school system, maybe all that is worth helping a few kids to access one of the better schools in the area (if you can call a high school with five bomb threats in one year better). But I am just not sure.
And then I definitely believe that the more worldviews, races, and cultures are represented in a place, the more you learn and grow. But sometimes I do wonder about the psychological effects on someone who is singled out to be shipped off to a faraway school full of preps in need of a few more black or hispanic faces. This is hard. And it hits close to home for me.
Any thoughts, readers?
2 comments:
I agree about being torn on this issue.
My biggest issue about this story has been the blonde-haired, blue eyed people celebrating this with so much joy. They have nothing to loose (read: better education by being in a better school) and everything to gain (read: less exposure for their children to children from the other side of the tracks).
I cannot imagine not having gone to school or worked in diverse places.
More blogging! Inquiring minds want to know what's going on :) I love you peach and i'm glad you called me this morning. Call me anytime! Can't wait to see you in a couple weeks. Are you thinking of visiting Princeton again in August sometime?
Sary
Post a Comment