I believe
Nick News, “Black, White, and Brown vs. Board of Education: A Return to
Segregated Schools?” does a wonderful job of capturing the state of our
education system 50 years after Brown vs. Board. Jonshell from New
Orleans makes a powerful statement when she says, “The inequality in African
American schools, it is a symptom of a larger problem that in this country
African Americans are treated as if they are failures.” This quote is
shown soon after a white woman in St. Louis stands in front of others claiming
that she deserves the right to not have her child, “stabbed, given drugs, or robbed”
by the transfer students who are coming into her child’s county
school.
The cycle
of segregated education is so strong that it seems almost impossible to
eradicate. As the episode explained, public schools are funded by local
property taxes. In St. Louis, the city has lower property values than the
county. Therefore, the county is given much more funding and able to
provide the best resources for their students. As one student states, “it
depends on where you live and what your parents do.” This is securing
African American students in one educational group while white students are
secured in another. How can we end segregated schools when this is how
our system is set up?
Students
of all races and cultures want to learn. They want to create a strong
future for themselves and so many are not given the opportunity. When one
girl is given her “golden paper” or her transfer papers, she is forced to
listen to the response from others of how she is a danger to their
community. This student called her transfer papers “a gateway to a new
world.” However, this new world includes others who label her as being a
danger to their children without even meeting her or knowing anything about
her. While Brown vs. Board of Education was an incredible achievement in
our history, we still have an incredibly long way to go.
From Cheri:
ReplyDeleteAfter watching Nick News and in preparation of an upcoming parent/student school meeting and a future school board meeting, I spent hours this past week reading and studying the new transfer law called "Education Plus." I studied changes in policy to address financial student transfer cost, and the Missouri Supreme Court cases challenging the transfer policy. I also researched to see what other states were doing about unequal education.
The Missouri State Supreme Court declared the new transfer law "Education Plus," constitutional, because no new responsibilities were added to the schools, just a transfer of responsibility. Only students from non-accredited schools can participate in the program. Two court cases were brought before the state supreme court; because existing law stated that no additional financial responsibilities could be imposed upon schools by the state for new programs. Thus, this is the reason the non-accredited school must provide the busing and pay student's tuition when they transfer to an accredited school.
An appeal has been filed by the Kansas school board because schools from lower socioeconomic areas cannot fully pay student's tuition. At this time, the state is trying to solve this issue and the state Supreme Court Judges have declared they will not change their decision even if accredited schools may have to pay some money out of their budget for incoming students. Researching past success of similar programs has left me with great hope and belief that this is a real solution to start improving the quality of education in America's poor school districts. You can read about these successes on line through National Association of Charter School Authorizers.
Someone needs to publish the positive outcomes and empower people to understand the benefits behind this change for the whole state. America, we are talking about empowering young people to build a strong work ethic while in school, which research has proven transfers to success in other areas of life such as sustained employment and completion of post secondary education. When did you start reaching for the stars, because a teacher challenged you with a simple empowering statement? For me, it was my eleventh grade typing teacher who simply replied to my comment about pleasing my parent. Her comment, "You should be working hard to reach your goals, not to please your parents. Teachers supported with adequate training, equipment, and an encouraging community will positively impact their students.