Wells, Amy Stuart, Holme, Jennifer, Revilla, Anita Tijerina, & Atanda, Awo Korantemaa
University Affiliation: Columbia University
Email: asw86@columbia.edu
Research Question:
Firsthand account by Blacks, Whites, and Latinos who graduated in 1980 of how desegregation affected them during high school and later in life.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: University of California Press
Journal Entry: --error--
Year: 2009
Findings:
- Rather than their desegregation school experiences forging avenues for continued desegregation, even integration, in their adult lives, many of the white cases studied capture the real tension that desegregated schooling experiences did not change: that the struggle for racial equality was intended to destroy the manifestations of overt racism but never designed to disrupt economic progress or overthrow deeply held cultural norms of white privilege.
- More than 50% of the White graduates acknowledged that they are not giving their children the same desegregation opportunities they experienced.
- While Black graduates of 1980 live in more desegregation housing than their White counterparts, report jobs in diverse settings, and are more adamant about finding diverse schooling for their children, they also confine their social and religious activities primarily to other African Americans. The same applies to Latino graduates.
- Longterm outcomes show that desegregation increased job opportunities and social networks for minorities but that race remains a central variable in ethnic relationships.
- Virtually all graduates said that attending desegregated schools dispelled their fears of people of other races, taught them to embrace racial and cultural differences, and showed them the humanness of individuals across racial lines.
- In many cases, the students were logistically thwarted from desegregation outside of schools by growing up in segregated neighborhoods.
- Most graduates noted that there was segregation within the desegregated schools because many teachers were biased against students of color in assessing ability and intelligence.
- Regardless of the cross-racial bonds formed within these schools, the adults who graduated from them went on to lead lives that were, for the most part, far more segregated than their high schools.
- In 2000-02, the average White student attended a school that was almost 80% White, while the average Black and Latino students attended schools that were 30% and 28% White, respectively. Thus, most students of color still attend schools that are substantially segregated.
- The vast majority of parents (back or white) support the concept of racially mixed public schools but they strongly prefer voluntary or choice-based desegregation policies to mandatory reassignments.
- Authors encourage policymakers to broaden the measures of school quality and accountability to include indicators other than standardized test scores; amend current public school policies to make them more supportive of parents and educators who want to start and maintain racially diverse schools; increase federal and state support for school districts that are trying to maintain desegregated schools; pursue non-education goals that will facilitate the creation of more diverse public schools.