Statistics show that in many places, American public schools today look as if they are more segregated than they were during the civil rights period (Hannah-Jones).  The segregation of American public schools began in 1896, when the supreme court established the “separate but equal” clause that stated public facilities could be racially segregated, as long as they were equal in the well-known court case Plessy v. Ferguson (Brownstein).  After this verdict, public schools became segregated, which presented many problems for the students that attended all-black schools.  The schools for minority students lacked resources, well-trained staff, and had almost no parental support.  In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled against the previous “separate but equal,” statement in the famous court case, Brown v. Board of Education.  In this case, the Supreme Court declared separate facilities to be inherently unequal (Brownstein).  This decision led to the desegregation of all public schools nationwide and after many years and efforts to make schools equal, integration was achieved.  Although the decision that was made in the Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education made a huge difference during the civil rights movement, public schools today have reverted back to the way they were before this legislation was passed; however, segregation today is different that segregation in past.  Segregation in schools during the civil rights period was based on race and segregation of schools today is based on socioeconomic status (Hannah-Jones).  The segregation of public schools today present unequal educational opportunities that do not allow all students to receive the education to which they are entitled and as a nation, we need to deal with this problem.

Public schools today are divided into low and high-income schools that have homogeneous populations.  Low-income schools today face many of the same problems that all black schools faced during the civil rights movement; they are understaffed, under resourced, and have little or no parental support (OneMECK).  High-income students that attend homogeneous high-income schools are at many disadvantages, as well.  In order to ensure educational equality in public schools, our public education system should take the necessary steps to redesign public schools to incorporate students from different social, economic, religious, and cultural backgrounds.  

Many problems arise when students attend homogeneous and low-income schools.  Often, these schools lack resources, staff, extracurricular programs, advanced classes and programs, and parental support.  Teachers at these schools have to work extra hard to teach their students because of difficult circumstances the students face outside of school.  Many low-income students often come to school without their basic needs met; they are tired, hungry, and unprepared for learning; as a result, there are high rates of teacher turnover and students do not perform as well in school overall (OneMECK).  Long-term, students that attend these schools face disadvantages when applying to college because there is a significant gap in the quality of education that these students receive in their primary years of schooling.  Low-income students are not the only ones that are at a disadvantage when they are placed in schools with homogeneous populations.  Contrary to popular belief, a recent study concluded that the high-income students are at an even higher disadvantage because they do not learn how to interact with people that are different from them and as a result, they are not prepared for life outside of school (OneMECK).

Integrating public schools in America would provide many benefits for low-income students, high income students, as well as the teachers that are involved in the public-school system.  Diverse schools benefit all students by teaching them how to collaborate with people that come from different racial, social, economic, cultural and religious backgrounds.  Once integration is achieved, low-income students will benefit from the increased parental support, increased and improved extracurricular and educational programs, and decreased teacher turnover.  High income students would benefit from the exposure to real-life situations and circumstances.  Teachers would benefit from a more balanced classroom environment.

A well-known example of integration and re-segregation is Charlotte, North Carolina and more specifically, the school district, Charlotte Mecklenburg.  After the famous Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, Charlotte was recognized as one of the most integrated school districts in the nation (Anderson).  Integration was achieved through court-enforced legislation and busing.  Many years later, court-enforced legislation had become more relaxed regarding integration; as a result, students were rezoned to schools based on where they lived and busing had come to an end (Hannah-Jones).  Charlotte Mecklenburg then began to revert back to segregation; however, this time segregation was based on socioeconomics (Anderon).  After a couple decades of schools becoming segregated, reintegration became a topic of discussion in Charlotte Mecklenburg.  Last spring, plans were developed and voted on to rezone school districts and make student populations more diverse.  These revisions include the decision to pair neighborhood schools that are near each other, making one school for students in Kindergarten through second grade and the other school for students in third through fifth grade.  By doing this, these school populations will incorporate students from a high income or middle-class neighborhood and students from low-income neighborhoods.  Charlotte Mecklenburg has also designed many schools to follow the magnet system (Helms and Harrison).  Charlotte should serve as a model for other school districts in similar, urban areas.  Once the plan is put into place, Charlotte schools will be diverse, students will be better prepared for life outside of school, and social mobility will increase.  An important factor in the development for these plans has been the nonprofit organization, OneMeck.  This organization works with Charlotte Mecklenburg schools and advocates for fair zoning and equality within public schools.  OneMECK has also conducted many studies, that I have mentioned above, that prove that segregation is a problem and can have negative effects on students from both ends.

We can approach the problem of re-segregation in a few different ways.  One way we can desegregate our public schools is by rezoning our school districts to create diverse student populations.  If school boards redraw these boundary lines and eliminate the practice of gerrymandering, our schools will be much more equal and diverse and diversity will be enforced and protected by legislation (Anderson).  Another way we can achieve integration is by creating more schools that follow the magnet system (Toppo).  Creating more magnet schools will make integration voluntary because students outside of the school zones can apply to go to these schools; therefore, magnet schools draw in students from many different neighborhoods and backgrounds.  According to Toppo, a reporter for USA Today that has studied research regarding this topic, “public charter schools, [are] a key strategy in improving education for such students, may take minority and poor students from larger more diverse public schools and enroll them into less diverse schools,” (Toppo).  In the past, busing has been an overall effective method of achieving integration.  Busing was commonly used in the 1970s, after the famous court case, Brown v. Board of Education (Anderson). Busing is the practice of moving students across boundary lines in order to have students from various neighborhoods and backgrounds attend the same school.  

Segregation is a controversial topic and there are many opposing views to this issue.  I would like to discuss several opposing viewpoints on this topic, as well as offer insight to why these are common perceptions.  I understand and recognize the validity of the following arguments and that reintegrating public schools is a tremendously controversial topic.  Some aspects of these arguments are proven to be true; however, I will provide alternative views these beliefs, along with my views on the benefits of reintegration, the problems segregation causes, and the possible solutions that we can take. While people believe different things about segregation and the methods of achieving it, I think that something all people can agree on is that the quality of a ones education should not be determined by where they come from or their socioeconomic status and it is important to keep this in mind when discussing the issue of equality in education.

Segregation is sometimes viewed as nonexistent and efforts to integrate schools are viewed by some as unnecessary.  This perception could be derived from the exceptional public schools that are integrated and diverse.  This view could also be a result from the fact that segregation was a problem of the past and was solved many years ago; therefore, the actions to reintegrate public schools is viewed as redundant because schools were integrated several decades ago.  It is true that all American public schools are not necessarily segregated; however, many schools and districts have reverted back towards segregation (Hannah-Jones).  While segregation was a problem of the past and at one point in history integration was almost achieved, it is still an ongoing problem today that needs to be dealt with again. 

Another reason that reintegration can be viewed as useless is because the issue of segregation in schools can be attributed to the segregation of neighborhoods.  A common belief is that before we try to fix the problem of segregated schools, we need to first fix the problem of segregated neighborhoods (Hannah-Jones). This perception is derived from the reasoning that since many of our school zones are based on neighborhoods, integrated neighborhoods would result in integrated schools.  While it is true that if neighborhoods were integrated, it would be reflected in our public schools and that the segregation of neighborhoods is an important issue that needs to be solved, the issue of segregation in public schools must be solved first.  A solution to the integrate neighborhoods is to increase social mobility.  One way we can increase social mobility is to integrate schools and provide all students with equal opportunities for success and higher education.  Once integration of schools is achieved and the quality of education is equal for all students, no matter what socioeconomic status a student has, all students will have equal opportunities in education, and therefore in higher education and careers later on in life.  It is also important to recognize that segregation in public schools today is not solely based on the segregation of neighborhoods and much of the segregation we see is public schools today is due to gerrymandering, the practice of drawing boundaries to favor one particular group.  

Another common perception about segregation today is that segregation is based on race.  In some low-income school populations, it may appear that the school is segregated by race because of the current trend in our society for minorities to be lower-class.  While some people could argue that segregation is based on race because of this, the causes of segregation prove that it is based on socioeconomic status.  Another cause of the perception that segregation is based on race could be because in the past, segregation was based solely on race. 

Others, often parents that are upper or middle class, that have children in the public-school system, may believe that integration puts their children at a disadvantage.  Since the schools that are majority low-income often lack in resources, staff, extracurricular and educational programs, these parents want the best for their children and believe that their students are at a disadvantage when they are mixed in with low-income students.  This belief could also lead parents to place their children in private schools.  I understand that many parents just want the best for their children; however, by placing your child in an environment where they only surrounded by people that are similar to them will be harmful to their development and social skills long-term.  Studies show that when low-income students are placed in integrated schools their test scores significantly increase and that when high income students are placed in integrated schools, their scores either increased or remained unchanged but did not lower (OneMECK).  A recent study has also concluded that “wealthy children raised in economically isolated communities have higher incidents of drug use and social and emotional problems” (OneMECK). 

Some researchers and parents believe that schools that are segregated can actually be beneficial.  One researcher that studied the racial and cultural isolation in Minnesota said, “those communities don’t really see their schools as segregated or as isolated, they see them as kind of culturally affirming environments for kids” (Gross).  While I understand that there are parents that want their children to be surrounded by people similar to them and that this could promote cultural education and affirmation within their own culture, students that attend segregated schools do not learn many life skills that are crucial to living in the diverse world we have today. 

With the various benefits that integrated schools have to offer and the attainable methods of achieving integration, we need to act now.  We can solve segregation by using long-term and short-term actions.  Short-term, we can create more schools that follow the magnet system, rezone school districts, pass legislation that will eliminate the practice of gerrymandering, and bus students across school boundaries.  As far as long-term solutions go, we can work to promote social mobility, which would put an end to the segregation of neighborhoods, and therefore, the segregation of neighborhood schools.  The benefits of integration are endless; once integration is achieved, all students will receive the education to which they are entitled, social mobility will increase, segregation of neighborhoods will improve, and students will be better prepared for life outside of school and to interact with people that are unlike them.  
