Supreme Court Revisits Historic Issue

(CBS/AP)  Can schools, in the interest of promoting desegregation, use race as a factor in deciding which school each student should attend? The Supreme Court Monday hears arguments on that potentially historic question, in connection with lawsuits filed by parents in Seattle and Louisville, Ky., who object to the practice.

The Bush administration has taken the side of the parents who are suing the school districts, much as it intervened on behalf of college and graduate students who challenged affirmative action policies before the Supreme Court in 2003.

CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller went to Manchester, Ct., to report on the debate over "racial imbalance."

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It may not look like it but schools in Manchester, Connecticut, are becoming racially segregated, and it's superintendent Kathleen Ouellette's problem to solve, reports CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller.

"Historically, this has been an issue for Manchester for many years," Ouellette tells Miller.

Eight of Manchester's 10 elementary schools are nearing what is being called "racial imbalance," where concentrations of minority students are either too high (above 73 percent) or too low (below 23 percent).

Gary Orfield, director of Harvard's Civil Rights Project, labels it "re-segregation" and says it's a nationwide trend.

"Schools in every part of the country, have become more segregated for black and Latino students, and we are now back to a level of segregation that hasn't existed for about a third of a century," says Orfield.

To solve its issues, Manchester is currently looking at three possible options: re-drawing districts to include more racial diversity, pairing majority white schools with majority black and Latino ones, and trading students or creating a complex school choice program.

"While Manchester's fix may imply race, in other parts of the country, race is an explicit admissions criterion," says Ouellette. "That has led to a number of legal challenges that face the Supreme Court, and some civil rights groups charge that's a direct threat to school integration."

At issue in the cases now before the Supreme Court is the question of whether or not race-based preferences in K through 12 school admissions are constitutional. The justices haven't explored this issue so broadly since 1954's landmark Brown vs Board of Education decision, which made school segregation unconstitutional.

"We need to get school officials out of the business of racial engineering and into the business of providing a quality education for all students, regardless of race and circumstance," says Terrence Pell, president of the Center for Individual Rights.

Nearly a dozen school districts nationwide are avoiding the fight altogether and are attempting to diversify classrooms by income.

Manchester hasn't explored that option yet, but may have to, depending on the Supreme Court's decision. Either way, Ouellette believes diversity is more than a legal mandate.

"It's our obligation that we provide our students with opportunities to share experiences with all cultures and all ways of life," says Ouellette.

A lesson and a challenge, in a country growing more diverse by the day.

Posted by OlGreyGhost at 01:03 PM :
Hey, if desegregation is such an important goal requiring government interference, let's kidnap all children from their parents and put them with other families of different races. "People will resist that with violence!" Right.

I used to live in a small town in northern Michigan where there no blacks or any other race for that matter, should we bus them to Chicago 400 miles away so they can be with some blacks? Most people that live there have never seen a black person other than in news or TV show


It really is a great place to live though

[subvet704]

This is a powerful issue. School should be about learning not quotas. Quotas have been found to be illegal. Why are we busing children all over districts just so that we can have the "correct" balance of racial integration.

Here in Lawrence KS we have been fighting this very issue for well over 10 years. It has been so bold that the district actually admits that racial segration in a primary reason.

Why don't we improve our education system instead? If we put as much money, time and effort in actually teaching as we do bussing we could accomplish a lot more.

[agnim]

"Choosing school assignments based off of race is not the right solution. The underlying problem here is equality in the quality of education for all students.
Posted by Keishia81 at 11:39 AM : Dec 04, 2006"

You are kinda late; since American history clearly shows that schools have ALWAYS been assigned based on race and racism.

Even if could have the fantasy of so-called 'equality in education', we would STILL need for Americans to be educated with and about each other to block ignorance and suspicions and avoidable national divisions.

This education of ALL Americans with and about each other is best achieved in a school setting; and this before the children learn deep-seated biases at home that will in time tear the nation apart.

[kailumego1]

The problem with promoting %u201Ceducational equality%u201D is much more complex than many of you realize, of which %u201Cinstitutionalized racism%u201D has been the cornerstone and prominent feature in American culture. This is our %u201Cstumbling block%u201D, %u201Cdefacto segregation%u201D, as demonstrated in our public school system, colleges and major universities. For a long time now, what has been taught is a %u201Cwishy-washy homogenous curriculum%u201D that has espoused Western European ideology devoid of elaborating on Native American, African, Asian, history, etc. As a matter of fact, for a long time, the only historical reference of Native Americans was being depicted as wanton bloodthirsty savages and white settlers as helpless victims, and this jaded imagine has continued until recently when textbooks were re-written to give a more accurate account of this period. However, a lot of pivotal information about their culture, posthumous leaders, and mistreatment by Europeans has still been omitted and traded for %u201Cwaxy%u201D stories romanticizing relationships between Native Americans and white settlers.

As for Africans, their image has been far worst, which Western Europeans have depicted them as licentious, indolent, feebleminded imbeciles, and although it was African slave labor responsible for metallurgy, crop rotation [cotton], building and construction, etc., the textbooks have not been a reflection.

[kailumego1]

It took me to research material online to find out that African Americans have contributed enormously to American society, in the way of inventions, in medical technology, commercial goods, etc., as a matter of fact, they have patented thousands of inventions. In addition, it was an excellent professor who enlightened me that the Chinese had also contributed to American society, by building railroads, as well as Hispanics [Cesar Chavez and the California Grape Workers boycott].

Our public school system needs to offer a %u201Cmulticultural%u201D curriculum espousing cultural diversity, teaching all American children the positive contributions and achievements made by all ethnicities, as oppose to only showcasing Western European achievements. A year ago I had a history class on Chinese civilization, and it was fascinating, I didn%u2019t realize at one time they were far more advance than Western Europeans.

Unfortunately, our public school curriculum is based on %u201Cethnocentristic%u201D and primarily focuses on the achievements of Western Europeans, when other civilizations have contributed just as much or even more. Maybe if there wasn%u2019t a %u201Cracial imbalance%u201D of material afforded to minority students, and they were taught about contributions made by other cultures, or ethnicities, then they wouldn%u2019t have such a negative view of themselves and others.

[olgreyghost]

Here's the best idea. Abolish the public school system. No more arguments over racial imbalance or other frivolous programs and how to pay for them. This puts the responsibility and control of a child's education back where it belongs - in the hands of the parents. "It takes a village..." is pile of socialistic manure used to justify stealing from taxpayers to pay for the indocrination of their children and the children of parasites that live in the same neighborhood.

"But nobody can afford an education like the rich!" Right, like no one could develop the Wal-Mart equivalent in the primary education industry that can deliver a better product at a lower price ("Always") than the government imposed monopoly does now?

"But what about the truly poor?" Right, no one could develop the Salvation Army or MDA version of the secondary school system, could they? Ever heard of charity? Scholarships?

"But White children will go to school with only White children!" Right, White parents are too stupid to realize we live in a multi-racial world and will intentionally deny their children access to dealing with diverse peoples.

Hey, if desegregation is such an important goal requiring government interference, let's kidnap all children from their parents and put them with other families of different races. "People will resist that with violence!" Right.

[redgrandboy]

Why are all the pro-basketball players black? Why are all the countries that everyone is dying to get into built and run by whites?

[keishia81]

This is indicative of a larger problem. Obviously there are major economic inequalities that result in this sort of problem. Choosing school assignments based off of race is not the right solution. The underlying problem here is equality in the quality of education for all students. Since the amount of money each school is allotted is based off of property taxes. Children who come from families with lower incomes aren't receiving the same education as their wealthier counter part. The solution is equal funding for all schools so that all students can receive an adequate education. I think that is the root of the problem that needs to be addressed.

[vancouverboo]

The Rich People never have to worry about these things. They send their children to private schools where there are no disorderly masses who only attend school to play basketball. As to the rest, if you can't home educate your children then that's just too bad for you.

[agnim]

These people who are bringing these frivolous law suits are ignorant, narrow of vision and mean spirited.
They mean the future of their children and nation no good.

That is why they whine too much: These ignorant and loony litigants lack vision, and the focus on education that they should be communicating to their unfortunate offspring.

And sadly, these puerile parents are out to pass on their lack of educational focus onto their children.

Communities that grow apart within the same country feed suspicions and negativity against each other.
Just ask the Jews of their generations of experiences in Egypt and in Europe.