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school desegregation

Just finished a book on school desegregation in Louisville, Divided We Fail. It was nothing to write home about stylistically, but if you're interested in school desegregation and don't know much about it and its history, it's a good read. I read Along Freedom Road last year for class though and it's a better read, if less historically informative. But the two are fairly similar. I did want to highlight a couple chunks, mainly for my own future reference:

Quoted from the Kerner report, produced by the Johnson administration: "What white Americans have never fully understood, but what the Negro can never forget is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it." (p77)

A good summary of why I'm not in favor of privatizing education: "Fundamental to a market-based system of choice-based education was Darwinian competition that created winners and losers; desegregation was meant to equalize all schools, lift all boats." (p156)

And, I think the key takeaway: "In an era of choice and accountability, the dominant narrative is still one of escape, just as it was during desegregation: Minority children are "trapped in failing school," according to the rhetoric of reformers. The mission is to get the students out. Once again, it seems that those in power are treating black schools as they did black neighborhoods during urban renewal-- with an imperious sense of what is good for the community, regardless of what the people who lived there want. The focus is on tearing out dysfunction and blight, instead of finding existing strengths and building on what people value and what is working well." (p196-197)

posted by CP @ 4:00 PM 0 thoughts