The End of Integration

2/19/97


Why The End of Integration?



After four decades of school integration America has given up, and the question is: "Why?". I believe the answer is because absolutely nothing worked! Bussing was a hassle, most magnet schools were set up for false reasons, and everything was very costly. With everything they tried there were still no significant changes in the test scores of the minority students. So now here we are in the late 21st century and it can all be summed up with what Chris Hansen of the American Civil Liberties Union in New York City believes the courts are saying, "We still agree with the goal of school desegregation, but it's too hard, and we're tired of it, and we give up."
It all started with Brown v. Board of Education saying "Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." There began a plan to desegregate public schools across America. The first plan was bussing when Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education stated that federal courts could order bussing to desegregate schools. However in most cases bussing became much more of a hassle than a helper. There were many revolts from parents making situations even more horrible. Most students wanted to go to their neighborhood schools and not be bussed for long trips to attend a 'better' school. In Seattle the school board unanimously voted to "avoid race-based school assignment and increase enrollment in schools closer to home."(Lilly) The busing plan was not working and soon many schools were trying to deactivate this maneuver. "There is evidence that federal courts are realizing that the 25-year-old policy of busing to achieve racial balance in schools has not worked as a means for ending segregation or improving the academic performance of minority students."(NCPA) Busing did not work out as planned; scores for minority students were not higher and neither was their happiness. Peter Schmidt opinion is that "after seeing some districts' labyrinthine busing maps, that mandating the integration of classrooms has cost a good number of students any chance of a fair and quality education."

Another reason why plans for integration stopped was that many believed they were morally wrong. Mr. Symington, a Republican, said, " The education of Arizona's children should not be held prisoner by a racial quota system." While Edward Newsome feels it's just patronizing to blacks, "that the courts are so willing to assume that anything that is predominately black must be inferior." There were also problems with magnet school programs. Most were designed to attract white students to predominately black schools and vice versa. The communities were using magnet schools to lure whites away from private schools. Along with being unjust the magnet school plan also did not work. In 1985 one district was 73.6% minority, 11 years later the district is now 75.9% minority. Missouri v. Jenkins stopped the unjustness of Judge Clark and his magnet schools when they ordered it was wrong of him to pay for a plan just to attract suburban students. Plus last June The Supreme Court said the district court had no right to order expenditures aimed at attracting suburban whites.(Kunen)

The systems to integrate schools were also very costly. On average the cost for one student per year to be bussed is between $300 and $400. Kansas City spent $1.5 billion on magnet schools in town, a 10 year failure. San Francisco spent $200 million since 1982 to improve desegregation and after found it lacked "even modest overall improvement." (NCPA) John F. Huppenthal, the Republican chairman of the Senate's education committee said, "It is evil to hold them in a system which isn't doing much for them, particularly when it is so damn expensive."(Schmidt) The huge amount of money they used to pay for these methods came out of what could have gone to improving general schools or improving academic standards.

My opinion is that the plans for integration stopped because their maneuvers were not working. I believe those maneuvers should have stopped. They should spend more time improving the schools than integrating the students. There should be more schools like the J.S. Chick elementary school that doesn't look down upon it's 98% African American school. In that school the students outscore many of the magnet schools' students on the standardized tests. Minorities don't score lower on tests because there are all minorities sitting around them, they score poorly because the school is poor. I go along with J. Anthony Lukas when he states, " Our task is to educate the kids who're here, instead of yearning for those who have left. And, who knows, perhaps if we do a good enough job, some of those who have left may start trickling back." I believe some of the plans were a little immoral and wrong.

So after four decades of trying to desegregate schools, the plans failed and the country is giving up. Over the time most standardized tests showed minor improvement in minority scoring. The plans cost a lot of money but at least some schools were improved. The intents ended because the costly plans were not working. Neither busing nor magnet schools raised minorities academic performances, so the country has stopped the integration plans.