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The Importance Of School Segregation

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The United States is a nation that is becoming increasingly diverse. But for a country with changing demographics, this diversity is not reflected within the classroom . Although school segregation in the United States was legally abolished in 1954 as a result of the Supreme Court case Brown vs. Board of Education, public schools today are becoming re-segregated. It is well known that the phrase “separate but equal” was used to justify school segregation. However, separate schools in the mid-twentieth century were not equal, and neither are segregated schools today.
This re-segregation of public schools can be attributed to the fact that since the early 1990s schools were no longer required to uphold court orders that ruled for de-segregation since they were deemed “temporary” . Furthermore, the re-segregation of public schools is also a result of a school system that is based on the location of one’s house. Subsequently, if there is segregation within the housing sector, then segregation will trickle over into the school system as well. While students of all races reap the benefits of being in a classroom that is both racially and economically diverse, it is students of color who are often most effected by the issue of segregated schools. It has been found that attending a segregated school has a negative effect on educational outcomes, specifically for students of color.
A report from the Government Accountability Office that looked at the 2000-2001 and 2013-2014 school years found that schools with more poor black and Latinx students offered fewer math, science and college prep classes as well as more suspensions, expulsions and students who were held back in the ninth grade . Being a student at a lower income school also manifests itself in larger class sizes, guidance counselors not being as accessible and the likeliness of instruction taking place in a dilapidated building .
School re-segregation is an issue that deserves recognition. Allowing schools to become re-segregated perpetuates the systemic issues that already plague the United States in many other institutions. And having unequal educational opportunities for students not only harms that individual but the state of the entire nation.
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