Social Capital, Academic Capital, and the "Harm and Benefit" Thesis: Evidence from a Desegregating School District

  • 60% of the teachers felt that the Black students were better off than before the busing.
  • Only 11% felt that the White students were better off than before the busing.
  • Most open-ended comments on the surveys were negative.
  • 40% of the teachers indicating that busing had increased discipline problems.
  • 25% indicating that the lowered educational levels of the bused students hurt the academics for all students.
  • White enrollment in Lafayette Parish public schools decreased every year since the desegregation issue and the possibility of rezoning was raised in 1998.
  • Overall, the district lost 3,292 White students over the period, a loss of 16.5% of the White population.
  • Over the same period, the number of Black students increased by 778.
  • Research does not suggest that the redistribution of middle class student social and academic capital can benefit the disadvantaged minority student, even in the short term.
  • Two major issues brought to light by surveyed teachers are lack of parental involvement and transportation problems faced by parents of bused students.
  • Even after the 2000 desegregation order, a majority of the displaced Black students elected to move from their majority White school into a new majority Black school.