Segregation in Schools, Not a Thing of the Past; Instead Used to Re-enforce the Status Quo
We all learned about it in school, that school segregation through law ended with Brown v. Board, and that with it, we became more integrated, and perhaps even more equal. However, in reality, we are further from desegregated schools than we ever have been before. Sure, Brown v. Board ended the ability for a law to dictate separation, but as we know, there are always loopholes to be exploited.
21st Century Segregation — Being Set Apart Through Zoning, Funding, and Curriculum.
Today, there are not blatant laws that indicate separation within schools, but there are obvious dividing lines. If you walk into a school in a high income area, and compare it to a school in a low income area, the two are drastically different. One may have new technology while the other has older tech, or none at all. Some schools will have textbooks for each student, and others will have only enough to share. These drastic differences and inequities within schools are what keeps students from climbing higher on the social ladder and breaking the status quo.
School Zoning
If you compare the racial, and ethnic groups in the above mentioned schools, it becomes clear that the schools are different in this respect as well. School zoning allows for this separation, and often leaves a drastic separation with students of color frequently segregated to their own schools. Neighborhoods are indicative of the income level of their inhabitants, and it is through the zoning of these neighborhoods that students are placed at schools. If a zone is made up of lower income families of color, so will the schools in that area. By keeping students separated by income and race, it is simple to perpetuate the existing status quo. So, how can you compare students of color to other students if they are not receiving the same education?
Funding
School funding is based on property taxes within the area. If a school is in a zone that has more expensive houses, they will receive more money to fund their schools. This reinforces the status quo as students whose families have more money will receive a higher value education, and students in lower income areas will have a lover value education in terms of money due to per-pupil spending.
Per-pupil, or per-student spending, varies from school to school. Rather than spending the same amount of money on each student, or dispersing the funds in order to assist disadvantaged students, there are drastic differences between schools that favor those schools in higher income areas. If students on one side of a given city are receiving $11,000 of funding, and students on the other side are receiving twice that amount, how can the two sets of students be compared to one another?
Curriculum
The term “Teaching to the Test” has become the most important, and talked about term in education. Rather than teaching students about various disciplines, the ones that are included on the standardized tests become all that matter. Schools then focus on areas that are most critical to increasing their scores from year to year. If a school did poorly in math one year, they will focus heavily on math in order to rebound the next year. This allows for other subjects to fall through the cracks. Also, in schools that have done well in all subjects, they are allowed to move forward with a broad focus thus allowing for them to continue to become well-rounded while other students cannot. The thriving school will take the test and do well in everything again, and the other school may improve in math, but suffer in history. Student in different schools are not receiving the same content and curriculum, and yet are expected to have similar learning outcomes. The question arises as to how can you give the same test to both schools and expect to get equal results from both?
The simple answer to all the questions raised above is: You can’t. But that is not the answer that is given. Instead, inequality and inequity are used to reinforce the status quo.
Changing the Status Quo with Equitable Education
In a world of educational buzzwords, Equitable Education is often overlooked as just another “trend”. In reality, it could be the answer to ending the de facto segregation is schools. For decades, we have focused on equality as the answer to eliminating segregation and the achievement gap, but in that time, “equality” has not eliminated it at all. It was thought that if everyone was given the same amount of assistance, both educational and economical, that things would be fair. The problem is that there is a difference between equality and equity.
While equality and fairness seem to be synonymous, they truly are not. For example, Timmy walks into kindergarten on the lower income side of town without ever attending pre-school because his parents could not afford it. On the other side of town, Amy is starting kindergarten after attending two years of pre-school. She knows the alphabet, colors, shapes, and numbers. Timmy will need more assistance in order to catch up with Amy, but in an equality based educational system, they will receive the same amount of assistance. This will reinforce the gap between the students, and perpetuate the status quo that says Timmy will be disadvantaged and Amy will not.
Equity in funding would allow for schools and their students to receive the funding that they need to be on the same level as all other students. Timmy shouldn’t be punished due to his parents inability to afford preschool, just as Amy should not be punished for thriving because of her parents economic capabilities. Instead, they should both be brought to the same level by the distribution of funds. Schools in less advantaged areas will require more funding to catch up to schools in more advantaged areas. While the funding will not be equal, it will be equitable.
Equitable curriculum would allow for students to receive the same education, but at a different rate. It wouldn’t make sense to give the same test to Timmy and Amy on their first day of kindergarten and expect for them to both get 100%. By default, it also doesn’t make sense to teach to a test that not all student’s are not ready for.
Through the use of equitable education, segregation in classrooms can be used as a means of breaking the status quo, or ended all together. Equitable education would allow for all students to get what they need to break through the barriers set in their place. It would be a source of hope, equality, and fairness. Equitable education is what we need because we are all in this together, and separation only serves to silence that reality.
