For the past few classes, we have been speaking about the New York City public school systems and its issues of segregation and lack of diversity within its schools. The vast majority of the schools in New York City are segregated racially and economically, with little to no effort being made to fix this in the system. In “Why Our Schools are Segregated” by Richard Rothstein in Educational Leadership, Rothstein speaks about why schools are segregated and why he believes that although integration is necessary, many of the other problems that come with segregation will not automatically be fixed because they are bigger than just the school system.
Segregation issues affecting school ability is a problem starting long before the 20th century represented with Rothstein says, “residential segregation is actually the result of racially motivated law, public policy, and government-sponsored discrimination”. The issues that came with these laws, as time went on, accumulated to what now makes it seemingly impossible to fight against. Even in a perfect school system, with great integration levels, and teachers who genuinely care about every student, it is hard to achieve when children who are disadvantaged miss school due to lack of preventive health care, have less enrichment opportunities such as after-school and summer activities, and are undeveloped in key tools for school success, such as language and organizational skills. For children in schools that are segregated, Rothstein believes these problems are worse.
Unlike Rothstein, in “Does the Negro need Separate Schools,” W.E.B. DuBois does not speak much about the other problems outside the school system—although I believe that he would agree with some of Rothstein’s views. I think, however, that DuBois would argue that the despite all these other issues, the school systems do not do enough to truly provide an education to blacks, even in an integrated system. In integrated schools, education is not prepared to benefit the Black child, nor does the environment usually make it easy, or comfortable for a black student to succeed. DuBois believes in separate schools for blacks, as he believes that once there is a leveled playing field (the institution is up to par with any white institution economically) that Black would be able to be educated and knowledgeable about themselves in all aspect as school as well as their history and culture. In an environment created for Blacks to succeed, they will.
The part of this article that interested me the most was DuBois’s mention of what we now consider HBCUs. DuBois speaks about how many didn’t not want to attend these universities because of it being run by black folk, portraying a lack of “self-knowledge and self-respect”. I found that interesting because if DuBois was around today, he would see that his wish for these schools to be respected and prided by the black community has come true and that another problem around those institutions has arisen: the internal struggle of blacks to attend, not because they do not love the school, but because outside those walls, blacks still have to go and live in a white man’s world.
In the previous classes, we have been discussing the issue of segregation, diversity, and how these two issues have impacted our NYC schools as well as the response by the city government to these issues. Segregation has existed in the NYC school system even after Brown vs. Board desegregation ruling and NYC specifically has not done much to seriously address this issue publically until the DeBlasio administration. In the report Equity and Excellence for All: Diversity in New York City Public Schools , we see the mayor’s school trying to address the issue of diversity in the school system by publically announcing initiatives that it will undertake, but these initiatives are mostly underwhelming and will not achieve significant results to address the diversity and segregation problem in NYC school. However, I commend them on recognizing the issue and start setting goals on addressing the issue.
In the article, Does the Negro need Separate Schools? By W E. B Dubois, Dubois, to my surprise, argues for segregation of black and white children in school. I was perplexed as to why he wanted segregated school since blacks had struggled for so long to desegregate and finally achieved desegregation with the Brown vs. Board of Education case. I do not agree with his argument about segregating black and white children. However, I acknowledge his argument ,in the context of history, and his underlying beliefs. Dubois argues that black children need segregated school because they do not receive the proper education that they need and deserve in integrated schools. However, black school are neither funded well nor supported positively as white schools because black people do not want to give up the integration efforts that they fought so long for. Dubois also cites that black children do not get the same opportunities in school and in higher education that white children get. He cites examples of his own experience in higher education where he noticed that m many blacks were not allowed the same opportunities as their whiter counterparts. In addition, he argues that black students get inferior education because their integrated school lack important funding, and quality educators that black parents do not fight for like white parents do. These contribute to the quality of education for black student which eventually resulted in poor education for these students. Because of the poor education that black students receive due to lack of funding, and opportunism in school, black parents lose faith in their children’s intellectual potential and black dominated school. They push their children to white dominated schools where they have seen educational success among the white students. Fundamentally, he argues for segregated school because he believes that segregated school can cater more specifically to black student’s needs. In segregated school black students can learn about their black history, celebrate black figures, be encouraged to succeed by black teachers who share the same background as them, and be in a supportive environment of students of the same race. This is a supportive and stimulating environment for black children to learn and succeed that is not available in integrated schools. Even though, I do not agree with his idea of segregated schools, I understand that Dubois’s ultimate message is to create an enriching, resourceful, and supportive environment for black children to learn and grow in. His ultimate message, “theoretically, the Negro needs neither segregated schools nor mixed schools. What he needs is Education.” transcends time and is still relevant in our discussion of diversity today.
In the article, Why Our Schools Are Segregated by Richard Rothstein, we see segregation in the school system due to social and economic advantages. Although Dubois argued for segregation exclusively for blacks to gain better educational opportunities, this article talks about other factors besides educational opportunity that leads to an inferior quality of education for minority(specifically black) children. This article argues that there are factors besides classroom instruction and school resources that influence children’s potential to succeed academically. This argument was not really addressed in Dubois’ argument. This article talks about the underlying social and economic reason that lead to the schools segregation today that the report Equity and Excellence for All: Diversity in New York City Public Schools is trying to address. It argues that student’s economic and social issues affect their school performance. Personal family issue can affect attendance, learning time in school, study habits, and opportunity to get resources that they do not even know about. These problems are most prevalent in black-dominated schools. The article calls for integration because integration has proven to reduce the effect of the social and economic problem on black children’s education. Evidence has shown that integration of black disadvantaged student with more-privileged students has narrowed the black-white achievement gap. An Investigation of Chicago school reform found that school with well-developed curriculum and resources made little or no difference in disadvantaged neighborhood that were mostly dominated by blacks. I believe that DuBois’ argument that better education is the sole contributor for better educated and high achieving black student is not true in this context. Furthermore, increasing evidence shows that black students’ achievement decrease as their proportion in school increases. Evidence also shows that integrated schools can result in “improved graduation rates, higher rates of employment, and higher earnings in adulthood, as well as avoidance of teen childbearing, delinquency, homicide, and incarceration”. It also provides more confidence for black students to interact and compete with their whiter counterparts.
Therefore, I believe that integration is a necessary step for the NYC school system to focus on today. Although Dubois makes valid arguments, these arguments do not hold true for various reasons discussed and the evidence that shows the benefits of integration for minorities.
Thanks for this. You both highlight how, while writing about the same thing, DuBois and Rothstein and focused on different roots of the problem of inequality. Is it the way Black children are treated in school and in society, or is the problem rooted in social and economic inequalities that go beyond the schools? And what should the remedy be?