2. US Schools are More Segregated Today than in the 1950s

Source:
The Civil Rights Project, UCLA, January 2009
Title: “Reviving the Goal of an Integrated Society: A 21st Century Challenge”
Author: Gary Orfield

Student Researchers: Rena Hawkins, Southwest Minnesota State University
Melissa Robinson, Sonoma State University
Faculty Evaluator: Sangeeta Sinha, PhD
Southwest Minnesota State University

Schools in the United States are more segregated today than they have been in more than four decades. Millions of non-white students are locked into “dropout factory” high schools, where huge percentages do not graduate, and few are well prepared for college or a future in the US economy.

According to a new Civil Rights report published at the University of California, Los Angeles, schools in the US are 44 percent non-white, and minorities are rapidly emerging as the majority of public school students in the US. Latinos and blacks, the two largest minority groups, attend schools more segregated today than during the civil rights movement forty years ago. In Latino and African American populations, two of every five students attend intensely segregated schools. For Latinos this increase in segregation reflects growing residential segregation. For blacks a significant part of the reversal reflects the ending of desegregation plans in public schools throughout the nation. In the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, the US Supreme Court concluded that the Southern standard of “separate but equal” was “inherently unequal,” and did “irreversible” harm to black students. It later extended that ruling to Latinos.

The Civil Rights Study shows that most severe segregation in public schools is in the Western states, including California—not in the South, as many people believe. Unequal education leads to diminished access to college and future jobs. Most non-white schools are segregated by poverty as well as race. Most of the nation’s dropouts occur in non-white public schools, leading to large numbers of virtually unemployable young people of color.

Schools in low-income communities remain highly unequal in terms of funding, qualified teachers, and curriculum. The report indicates that schools with high levels of poverty have weaker staffs, fewer high-achieving peers, health and nutrition problems, residential instability, single-parent households, high exposure to crime and gangs, and many other conditions that strongly affect student performance levels. Low-income campuses are more likely to be ignored by college and job market recruiters. The impact of funding cuts in welfare and social programs since the 1990s was partially masked by the economic boom that suddenly ended in the fall of 2008. As a consequence, conditions are likely to get even worse in the immediate future.

In California and Texas segregation is spreading into large sections of suburbia as well. This is the social effect of years of neglect to civil rights policies that stressed equal educational opportunity for all. In California, the nation’s most multiracial state, half of blacks and Asians attend segregated schools, as do one quarter of Latino and Native American students. While many cities came under desegregation court orders during the civil rights era, most suburbs, because they had few minority students at that time, did not. When minority families began to move to the suburbs in large numbers, there was no plan in place to attain or maintain desegregation, appropriately train teachers and staff, or recruit non-white teachers to help deal with new groups of students. Eighty-five percent of the nation’s teachers are white, and little progress is being made toward diversifying the nation’s teaching force.

In states that now have a substantial majority of non-white students, failure to provide quality education to that majority through high school and college is a direct threat to the economic and social future of the general population. In a world economy, success is linked to formal education. Major sections of the US face the threat of declining education levels as the proportion of children attending inferior segregated schools continues to increase.

Rural schools also face severe segregation. In the days of civil rights struggles, small towns and rural areas were seen as the heart of the most intense racism. Of 8.3 million rural white students, 73 percent attend schools that are 80 to100 percent white.

Our nation’s segregated schools result from decades of systematic neglect of civil rights policy and related educational and community reforms.
According to the UCLA report, what is needed are leaders who recognize that we have a common destiny in an America where our children grow up together, knowing and respecting each other, and are all given the educational tools that prepare them for success in our society. The author maintains that if we are to continue along a path of deepening separation and entrenched inequality it will only diminish our common potential.

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Al

As part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Congress required the President to
determine just what it was that caused kids in school to learn. So statistics
were collected nation-wide and the analysis was published as Equality of
Educational Opportunity. It was accused of being “anti-education.”The book is out of print and expensive, A symposium was held at Harvard, to address
the criticism of the book. The Harvard paper was published as On Equality
of Educational Opportunity. One significant in the report is this:
“When the performance of a child in school is adjusted for the
educational and cultural level of his parents, there is nothing
left for the school to effect.”
Luff

As being part of one of the schools where drop outs have risen and minority groups have too I’ve personally noticed that the segregration is because these people are not born in the US and migrate to here. They have troubles picking up all the English but are not stupid in anyway. They stick to their minority group because that is where they feel most comfortable and they all speak the same language. =/ it’s not as if we don’t make them feel welcomed here or anything it’s just an automatic thing that happens.
kim switzer

I find it scandalous that no one recognizes what has really been done to the school system.
1st) you need to recognize that segregation is in effect in every ISD, and that this segregation is far more than race or creed. Literally more than 1/2 the population of children.
2nd) you need to look at all the statutes and acts, in passed in regard to the ISD, and directly affecting the children. These kids are ‘acting out’ because of extreme abuse that is authorized and habitualized by the statutes. You need to look at them with an eye to what is termed “Deceptive Contracts” and the use of words with two senses…they have slipped it over on us.
3rd) you must finally recognize, that what has happened is that the name “school” and “teaching” was kept, but all the rules, regulations, statutes, etc., have changed beneath it. It is no longer a teaching institution. This was deliberate.
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http://kinonagare.com peter shapiro

in a time if increasing operational world wide scarcity, the winners will consolidate and protect their winnings while the losers are left to die….
from the end of J. Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: the horror! the horror!
Rob

The last school where I taught is a charter school, and quite an excellent one. About a month into my contract, one of the teaches asked me, “Haven’t you figured out that almost everyone here is Mormon?”

I hadn’t thought about it, but even the secretary talked about “her mission”, and it turned out that the principal and some of the teachers (also excellent), and apparently a large percentage of the pupils’ families were Mormons.

Despite the fact that the school was quite good, it never sat right with me that a religious group was able to form what was effectively a private parochial school with taxpayer money.

It seems, and probably is, illegal and unconstitutional.
Steve

Schools were a lot better before President Carter started the Federal Department of Education.

Abolishing it and giving the full responsibility back to the local communities would be a great start.

Another great down fall was The efforts of Linden Johnson. Black families have gotten ever more weaker since the start of the Great Society. The mid 1960′s was a peak in terms of Graduating rates and literacy rates for Blacks. I always thought this was his real intention…what more could you expect from a white racist democrat?
Ava Connor

It’s more of a social problem really. Ever since racism was born, there have been big doors for scholastic conflicts.
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persefone

I have unfortunately observed some insidious demonstrations of segregation in desegregated classrooms today. As I type, there are still sexist, racist teachers who can, will and do segregate students without consequence. How? How can this happen? They simply seperate, segregate, sever, ignore those they wish to eliminate. With this method, a teacher safeguards her/himself from our legal consequences of descrimination. The teacher enjoys the academic freedom within the hallowed halls of learning. Despite the deplorable behavior, the teacher, unquestioned, has no obligation, no interest, no duty to answer to any one. Sexual and racial segregation strangle the psyches of their intended targets. I am in a classroom now where this happens. Women and minorities (asian, black, hispanics, anyone not caucasion and/male) are simply ignored. The teacher refuses to call on, look at, even respond to anyone in this group. We may as well be invisible. If a young woman interrupts, instructor disregards, turns away from, pretends not to hear, dismisses her very existence or scowls and/or scolds. Only the white males may interrupt, speak out of turn, be called on, be heard. Their ideas (no matter how sexually biased, demeaning, misogynistic) are brilliant and met with rapturous praise. The class reading material is worse than barbaric, paternistic, and down right infuriating! I can’t wait until it is finally over!
Kris W

Not too bright, it is true that African American males have the highest drop out rates but they are the “Canary in the Coal mine” for all American male students(as a Class they are more likely to face poverty as a total whole). If you look at all races it is unacceptably high. A direct result of the feminist war on boy’s.
Kris W

P.S persefone, what the heck are you smoking? For well over the last decade girl’s have been dominating the honor rolls while boy’s have been dominating the drop-out rolls. Unless your in Utah I have a hard time accepting your rhetoric.

And judging by your mindless and predictable feminist rant you are indeed a female supremacist.
Kris W

Steve, Johnson hated African Americans(when he was in the senate he helped the Democrats block Civil Rights legislation Republicans tried to pass and the only reason he supported it as President was because it was inevitable. It would of happened even if he vetoed it, P.S it was Eisenhower who desegregated the military and America’s schools) and did everything he could to stall and interrupt the Civil Rights movement. He refereed to the people protesting as “uppity ^^%$$#%”.

It is pathetic how much the Democratic Party has brainwashed people about the past(look it up).
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Samantha M

Racism is absolutely not something “that just happens”. It is a societal structure, created to keep certain people in certain places and to allow those in power to keep it that way. True, many of the minorities in the United States have immigrated here from a variety of other places. However, it is always in search of a better life. I don’t condone people illegaly coming into the country; I believe citizenship is the proper approach. However, while people are here — be it illegally — it is the obligation of all others, as decent human beings, to treat them respectfully and to more importantly, teach the children of these families. As a teacher, my job is to provide a quality, culturally responsive education to all students — their status as an immigrant has nothing to do with it.
White Male

“Eighty-five percent of the nation’s teachers are white, and little progress is being made toward diversifying the nation’s teaching force.” It is not the governments job to “diversify”. Its their job to protect us.

I don’t like racism and I do think everyone could use more tolerance, but affirmative action is racism. How many generations after racist crimes were allowed must we make up for the past? In my opinion 1 if any at all. The idea is to eliminate racism not create more.

So would selectivley picking individuals based on race to be educated to be teachers or allowing for some regulation that a school must meet a certain percentage of minority teachers nopt be racist? It is the job of individuals to persure those careers.

How are schools segregated? Because white people are going to private schools because the government isn’t funding schools enough? You state these statistics but you have no backing for where the actual segregation is caused.
Thomas T.

I hate racism but this article is ridiculous. Teachers shouldn’t be hired based on race but based on merit. Secondly who decided which schools are segregated in today’s society? This article provides zero criteria of what they consider to be a segregated school in today’s terms. Next, many people of minorities CHOOSE to live with their own race. Humans naturally like to be around people that look like them, and speak the same languages as themselves. Just because kids don’t hang out with every existing race on earth doesn’t mean that that kid is racist!
This article is the kind that likes to perceive whites as racist pigs. The truth is that most whites are non of these. This is just a stereotype that has now been accepted by many people. In fact no race deserves this kind of stereotype. Of course there are people of this world that fit these qualifications but you can not stereotype a whole race. This type of propaganda leads to reverse racism.

Lastly I would like to make clear that I am NOT a racist. I believe in equal OPPURTUNITY(You need to work hard in life to earn oppurtunity) and I am not saying there is no racism in the U.S., but I disagree with the views of the article. I am biracial and have lived in different countries and cultures. I have witnessed racism in ALL cultures. Mr. Orfield point of view is divisive.
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NotMoving

I was supposed to move to Peoria IL for work… My child will transfer to another middle school. Not one in Peoria tho… while researching middle schools I noticed they all got terrible scores except one that got exceptional ones. When I called that school I found they only take the 60 smartest kids per class around. Now if thats not segregation without racism I don’t know what is.
(They are all public schools that I researched)
Now I have to commute to work:(
http://a s

ho
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Mathew

If all children are equally deserve the rights ……..then why its a big issue that whether this women lied or not? If our own children in America can not have the equal privileges, then why do we preach the equality and justice to the world? if our black children canot have the equal privileges and rights with , then what is Pledge of allegiance means to us? why do we chant Pledge of allegiance??
kristen rice

I AM A LESBIAN AND I THINK THAT ALL OF THIS CRAPO IS STUPID!
Susan

In California, Arnold made deep, deep cuts to the education budget, and the rich white liberals who fund our elections don’t care because their children attend private schools. The rich white liberals only care about the environment, gay rights, abortion rights, the Middle East, and of course, no tax increases on their millions and billions.

They don’t care if our public schools are closing down, or if there are 40 students in a class taught by a teacher who lacks a credential. They don’t care. They care if children in Afghanistan and Ghana have an education, and always have fundraisers for people in foreign countries, but they couldn’t care less about the kids in East LA or South LA.
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Jace

This is for Thomas T. Tell me where does your child go to school? Did your school have to struggle to make sure they had enough funding for all school related activities? Do your school have the latest technology and the current books? Well I work in a school district where we are 3 editions behind other school districts and are still using out of date technology. I have bring my laptop from home every day so I can actually get some work done and then email to myself so I can print it out. What this article is talking about is how unfair the funding in our school systems are based on what color the students are. I work for one of those school districts where less than 10 percent of the students are white. So if you have not actually work in this environment or have done your owe research, you need to be quite. I work and live in it everyday and people like you make our jobs a lot harder; and by the way, I’m a teacher.
Jace

Again another person who speaks without thinking. Tell me if whites where forced from their homes and forced to be made slaves for over a hundred years, and when finally freedom, and killed for wanting more freedoms and liberties, how would that make you fill? If the government knew people of color would be given the same fair opportunities as whites there would be no need; but that not how our society works or thinks for the most part. The reason most school districts are underfunded is because our current school system funding is set up by property taxes and then the schools receive those funds. The problem with this is that the rich have done everything in their power to not have funding collected and then split the funding equally between the school districts. Do some research and then come back and talk.
Anonymous

Beat that slavery drum a little harder I think you could get a few more miles from it while your Kenyan daddy is shacked up in the White House.
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Xhefretc

lets hav sex !
Xhefretc

lets hav sex !
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7HH5JRNTP2DCQJYKBTZXXHX47Y Brutalisk

I live in Texas where this is large minority populations and I can tell you one thing right now: The reason why white families move out to rural areas to attend these mostly white schools is because they reject the federal governments enforcement of diversity.

Like it or not, many people are against diversity.

I do not want my child to attend a school with even 30% minority population because the reality is minority children don’t do well in school and are very disruptive and create dangerous enviornments like drugs, gangs and unprotected sex.

You can’t get angry at white families for taking ‘white flight’ and moving to white communities so their children can attend white schools.

It’s also wrong for the federal government to force families to integrate. If people, regardless of their race, want their children to attend a homogenous schools then if they are a free people, they should have the right to make that decision.

What the government is doing with this force integration is nothing more than tyranny.

If people or local governments wish to segregate, they should have the right and freedom to make that choice for themselves.
Victoria Grace

actually, i attend a very expensive private school. personally i was looking up segragation for a school project. but if you have to go there, my school has ecenlent facilities, every student gets a laptop isseued by the school, and teachers are great and we are all pretty smart. in adition you could bet that my parents and everyone elses parents that atend my school, are some of the richest people in america. but, that does not mean that we dont care about public schools. we do a charity fundraiser every year for new clothes for a school in our city. 95% of that school is leagally homeless. we care to so dont think you are all alone here.
Octavyadxn

That sounded racist to me. Yes, our president is black but that have not change the fact that whites still get a better education than us black folks.
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Jason Bull

….. improper spelling, not to correct you or anything, since you are a teacher or in some sort of education based profession.
Mr. Andrew Lavell Mitchell

Whoever this Thomas T cat is, he simply is ignorant trying to explain anything to him is a waste he doesn’t see the perpetuating cycle in classism, racism, and segregation there is no such thing as merit, (working your way out) because by the time you attain to those who are in power youll most likely be dead we are all on a hill but those who are in higher class are nearer to the top.
white girl

I agree – how many generations do white people need just to make it up to the other minorities? If Black people could just give us a year, I think everything would be better. (For instance: “Dear Whites, We will accept your apology in the year 2080. Until then, Affirmative Action and using slavery as an excuse for everything will still be in effect. Thanks for your help, the Blacks”) I’m a woman and I’m not pissed off at the men for making my ancestors miserable in past centuries. I don’t understand how people could hold a grudge for so long especially when they weren’t even alive during the time period. I love people of all races, but I hate when they get angry about something that I can’t personally fix today. Should I be wearing a sign that says, ‘My bad’?
Tania_g10

You sound very ignorant!!!
Grad student

I don’t consider this “segregation” in schools where the majority of the population are black or latino. For example, many schools in Los Angeles are not segregated, but have a high minority enrollment because of the number of minorities that live in those neighborhoods. My point is this…the student population at schools is not based on segregation, but if a large number of minorities live in a certain area, obviously those nearby schools will have a large number of minorities. I’m from Orange County, where there is only 6% black population, so obviously our schools are not “segregated” but have a large number of white students. Point is…it’s ALL ABOUT WHERE YOU LIVE that determines what students go to these schools. It has nothing to do with the local or state or even federal government “DETERMINING” where your child goes to school. That doesn’t exist anymore after Brown vs Board ruling in 1954.
Grad student

Sorry to tell you, the funding that schools receive have a lot to do with the performance that the students deliver. You cannot possibly blame CERTIFIED teachers (which all teachers must be after Bush passed the No Child Left Behind Law) for students not wanting to do well in school, study and pass their classes. It is not the public’s fault that many parents refuse to help their children with school work, homework, projects, etc. in order to give them a chance at doing well in school. Point is, you have to do well beginning in Kindergarten in order to do well in middle school, high school and then get into college. You can’t blame the administration. You have books, you have schools, you have teachers…the students have everything they need, but they choose to do drugs, or drop out. Only those students make those choices, NO ONE ELSE. You don’t have to have a lot of money to open a book and do well in school. This isn’t the 50′s anymore. All Americans have equal opportunity now.
grad student

I also taught before starting my PhD program. I have to disagree with you here. It’s not the “color of someone’s skin” that provides funding to your schools. It’s the performance level that the students are not meeting. So they are getting the bare minimum – and teachers ARE certified. This isn’t the 60′s anymore…all students are certified to teach. Obviously the low income schools have students that are turning to drugs (which is their own choice, not the rest of America) and dropping out. I don’t like the idea of blaming America, blaming the government and calling it racism when it’s the parents even a single parent can teach their child and help them with their school work and homework. That is the reason the students are not doing well…the parents are not doing THEIR part.
JuliannaZedwards31

girl has no intelligence what so ever . Whered her brain go ? She types a paragraph of nonsense gosh I feel like I just got a little bit dumber just reading that crap
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Dsmith

You sound very dumb and extremely racist. You obviously take an abundance of knowledge let alone depth as a person. You are a disgrace to society. Move past the ignorance not towards it.