School segregation is "back."

Source: Decent Schools for California
(http://www.decentschools.org/)

I heard an interesting interview on the NPR program, Here and Now (October 4th 2010) about the problem of segregation in the schools.  As we remember, legal segregation was the based on the already standard practice of the separation of the "races." It was enshrined in law due to the monumentally stupid Supreme Court decision of Plessy v. Ferguson in the late 1890s. The law now required facilities to be "separate but equal." Of course, that didn't happen that way, with minorities, especially African Americans getting the shaft having to make concessions with unequal facilities and being denied rights.

Fast forward to the famous case of Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education. The Supreme Court handed down the beginning of antidote to Plessy v. Ferguson in my parent's home state of Kansas at exactly the time they would theoretically be affected by it as they were both in high school in 1954. Segregation in the schools was now illegal, but that didn't stop some states' townships, legislatures and governors from trying to continue the practice. Eventually state sponsored segregation disappeared and desegregation became a priority. For a time.

It turns out that segregation isn't such an easy thing to fix. Bussing of students from underprivileged to the more affluent schools, minority to white, has lost its luster. (If it ever had it to begin with. Bussing was quite controversial, not just on the wealthier, white side) Plus, there are practical matters to discuss. As most children do, if you do not have a parent or a friend to take you to school, you ride some kind of bus or transit. Obviously already a challenge. Now double, triple or quadruple the time that a child is on this bus. It's not the ideal place to study. By the time you get home, you're already beat by the commute. Plus, if both of your parents work, (if you have two parents) then it's quite likely that you'll end up serving as a surrogate parent to younger siblings. That's a lot of pressure on someone who's top priority should be that of getting an education.

So, bussing isn't the answer. What is? That seems obvious. Improve local schools. I'm not ready to say that we've solved the race problem, not even close, but one thing that is clear is this: parents will be thrilled to send their children to schools that have a reputation for success and high standards. The answer is to make the formerly failing inner-city schools more attractive to everyone. When a school is able to be successful, divorced from place, then the segregation problem will not evaporate, but it will diminish to an extent that it is now only the racist hangers-on who self select.

But it's hard choices time. How do you make an inner-city or an other such failing school successful? It's not only resources, though that's important, but also about changing the cultures of these schools. Negative attitudes and a history of failure feeds upon itself. It only takes a few bad apples to poison the barrel. Disparate and non-cohesive action plans, lack of discipline, lack of parental involvement (that's a hard nut to crack) as well as many problems must be solved as a team effort. Everyone must be on board. I've heard it said that getting teachers to agree on anything is like herding cats. I'm a huge supporter of a strong central administration with buyoff from the teachers. A good administrator is able to get teachers on board and help them to understand why school policy is important.

Plus, more money to struggling schools wouldn't hurt. I'm okay with robbing from Peter to save Paul.