Blacks, Latinos suffer; whites, Asians typically do better.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A new report from the University of California, Los Angeles’ (UCLA) Civil Rights Project shows that despite the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. the Board of Education, segregation in US schools has actually increased in recent years.
The report, entitled “Brown at 60: Great Progress, a Long Retreat and an Uncertain Future,” shows that in the South and West regions of the US, white students are now a minority. In the West, black students are the largest demographic, while in the South, Latinos are most dominant, followed by blacks and whites.
Calling the South a “tri-racial region” in which segregation against black students is the least problematic, the report says that in the Northeast region, the situation is entirely different. Segregation for black students is the highest there, and the Northeast also has “extremely high district fragmentation.”
“A half century of research shows that many forms of unequal opportunity are linked to segregation,” says the report’s executive summary. “Further, research also finds that desegregated education has substantial benefits for educational and later life outcomes for students from all backgrounds.”
With regards to Asian students, the report says that they and white students “typically attend middle class schools” – not terrible surprising, as Asian demographics tend to be among the wealthiest, along with whites, thereby allowing their children to attend better schools.
But the states of California, New York, and Illinois are singled out for having the worst segregation towards black and Latinos. California, in particular, is where Latinos are segregated against the most. Nationwide, black and Latino students tend to be dominant in the poorest schools and school districts, where resources are relatively scarce and the quality of education is low.
“Brown was a major accomplishment and we should rightfully be proud,” said Gary Orfield, co-author of the study and co-director of the Civil Rights Project, in a press release. “But a real celebration should also involve thinking seriously about why the country has turned away from the goal of Brown and accepted deepening polarization and inequality in our schools”
“It is time to stop celebrating a version of history that ignores our last quarter century of retreat and begin to make new history by finding ways to apply the vision of Brown in a transformed, multiracial society in another century,” Orfield also said.
Report co-author Erica Frankenberg, an assistant professor at Penn State University, offered her thoughts on the finding of the report. In a press release issued by the Civil Rights Project, Frankenberg said that although total de-segregation is not always, attempts must be made in the vast majority of territories where it is.
“Desegregation is not a panacea and it is not feasible in some situations,” said Frankenberg. “Where it is possible–and it still is possible in many areas–desegregation properly implemented can make a very real contribution to equalizing educational opportunities and preparing young Americans to live, work and govern together in our extremely diverse society.”