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MykaelaBarnes
MelissaCochran
Humanities
3/2/15
SchoolDesegregation
JournalEntry#16
ManyAmericanscanrecallMartinLutherKingJr.sIHaveaDreamspeech.They
knowofhowKingpreachedforequalityandsegregation.Withinthatspeech,Kingmentions
howhewisheshischildrencouldattendschoolwithwhitechildren.In1954,OliverBrown
claimedthatthesegregationofwhitesandblacksinpublicschoolswasaviolationofthe14th
AmendmentinthefamousBrownvsBoardofEducationcase.AschoolinArkansasattempted
todesegregatebyallowing9AfricanAmericanstoenroll,becomingknownastheLittleRock
Nine.Sincethen,canAmericanstrulysaytheyvesuccessfullydesegregatedtheirschools?
Atopicthatiswidelyactivebutnotcommonlyunderstoodistheideaof(invisible)
privilege.Privilege,intermsofrace,gender,economicstatus,referstoautomaticbenefitsyou
haveordonthavebecauseofhowyouidentifyyourself.Privilegeisprevalentineverydaylife
itcanbeinvolvedwhenapplyingforajoborcollegeorbeingservedinapublicsetting.Of
course,racialprivilegeisrelatedtosegregationwithinpublicschoolingsystems.Across
America,schoolsarenaturallysegregatingbecauseoftheirlocationandoveralleducational
value.Inmostcases,whitefamiliesleavetheirpublicschoolstofindbetteropportunitiesfor
theirchildren,leavingtheminoritygroupsbehind.(Although,insomeareaswhitesarethe

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minority.)Wearethenleftwithschoolsthatarecomposedofonerace,andareusuallyleftto
fail.Whyshoulditmatterwhoisinwhatschool?
AnarticlebyFrontlineofPBS(Breslow2014)listsvariouswaysinwhichintegrationis
beneficial.AstudybyaprofessorattheUniversityofCalifornia,Berkeleyfoundthatthe
graduationrateofhighschoolstudentsgoesup12%ifthestudentsareinanintegratedschool
system.Alongwiththis,studentsattendingintegratedschoolsaremorelikelytoreceiveahigher
qualityeducation,whichleadtomoreraciallydiversestudentsinwellroundedcollegesthatwill
eventuallyattainreputablejobswithhighwages.Onesmallactionofintegrationwillleadtoa
chaineffectofsuccess.
ThetaskthatmanyAmericanschooldistrictsthenstrugglewithis
how
tointegratethese
schools.Inmyopinion,weneedtofixtheschoolsthemselves,notthepopulationofstudents.If
wecanmakeallschoolsequalintermsofteachers,facilities,clubs/sports,andeducational
assistance,thenmaybewecouldcreatediversestudentclasses.Thisdoesntmeanmakingallthe
schoolsinanareaequallybad,butinsteadbuildingthisschoolstobethebesttheycanbe.
Parentsinagivencityshouldwanttheirchildtoattendanyoftheofferedschoolsbecausethey
arealleducationallyrichandtheirchildwillreceiveagreateducationatanyschool.
InrelationtoHighTechHigh,andNorthCountyspecifically,Idontbelievewe(the
highschool)aretooraciallydiverse.Ithinkbeingasmallschoolhassomethingtodowithour
lackofdiversity,butwhenIlookaroundmyclassIdontseemanydifferentethnicities.ExceptI
dothinkwearetrying.Thesystemofpullingstudentsfromvariousareaswillcertainlygive
peopleofvaryingbackgroundsanopportunitytoattend.Theelementaryschoolis,frommy
understanding,filledwithmixedracesandhopefullythosestudentswillonedayattendthe

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middleandhighschoolsmeaningthatwellstarttoseeanincreaseofracialdiversityasyears
passandtheelementaryschoolcontinuestofilterinstudentsthewayithasthispastyear.Inall,
thisisaproblemthatsomeAmericansfailtorecognizeanddontnecessarilyseeasimportant.
Thefirststeptothissomewhataccidentalsegregationofschoolsshouldbeawareness,andthat
canstartwithintheschoolsthemselves.Wecanteachyoungergenerationsaboutprivilege,and
thosestudentscangrowuptohaveabetterunderstandingofracialequality.