The Edutopia Poll
by Sara Bernard
In Nebraska, on April 13, 2006, a measure was signed into law that calls for the division of Omaha public schools into three smaller districts. Though the law does not expressly dictate the racial makeup of these districts, they are nevertheless racially identifiable. Ernie Chambers, one of the major forces behind the measure (and Nebraska's only African American senator), argues that it will enable ethnic communities to assert control over schools with predominantly minority student populations, and improve student performance. Opponents, however, defend the value of integration and suggest that the measure may violate the federal Constitution's equal-protection clause. On May 15, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People filed suit, challenging the law and arguing that it "intentionally furthers racial segregation." We're interested in your opinion.
Can segregated school districts be effective?
Submitted by Byron Samuel (not verified) on March 19, 2008 - 07:18.
People think segergation is the wrong way to go.Thinking that it will African American children.But it is time that we as a people take control of our peoples education. By givring them aschool in which we have black teachers who can identify with the youth of today. And can teach them about there history, and let them know that where are decedents of a race that built the Pyrimads of Geze. A race that had laws installed in there society before there every was an United States of America. They teachers who won't right them off if they are haveing problems learning, and then go head a push them threw the system. We as people need to take responsibility for are own people. I fill Brown vs. Board of Education hurt us as a people,because instead of us taking the responsibility teach we left it up to somebody else.I know this also has to do with money and that is another reason why all black schools failed in the south, but this a new time with people who have a difreent mind set. This time it might work
Omaha divided school district
Submitted by Peter Clark (not verified) on June 27, 2007 - 05:54.
No where do I see where this plan is preventing any member of any ethnic group from attending a school outside of their proposed district, so how is this reliving segreation of old when then African American children had to walk pass white attended public schools to attend those designated for them only. People have a right to live where they desire. It just so happen that most people prefer to live in concentrated groups of their like kind. This is Constitutional acceptable. Whites are paranoid that someone hate them due to pass and even present practices and Blacks have this unfounded belief that nothing is right unless it has direct white presence. Blacks need to take responsibility of their own problems and stop waiting on others to solve those problems unique to them. White liberals should stop persuading Blacks away from the direction they feel is best for them and get off this agenda of making Blacks give up their identity as sons and daughters of Black African descent, which I am one.
I live in North Omaha in
Submitted by Kerry Queen (not verified) on October 18, 2006 - 14:07.
I live in North Omaha in Nebraska. I support L.B. 1024 and all the new territory that goes with it.
My family is considered to be white in an area that is mostly minority. I am Originally from Ft. Collins, Colorado but my husband is a sixth generation resident of Omaha. I have never experienced a school district such as the Omaha Public School District before. The district is disconnected from the parents and students that attend its schools. For ten years we have tried to get this massive machine to realize it is failing but to no avail.
My family and I have had meetings with Superintendents, Assistant-Superintendents and state senators to show the problems we are encountering with a system that does not acknowledge complaints much less solve them. The state senators have been responsive to our efforts by forming the Learning Community but OPS still refuses to acknowledge the solutions we have brought to the table.
My husband is an Omaha Police veteran of 18 years on the force. He has always worked in North Omaha. With disturbing regularity he encounters people who cannot read or write. Many of the teenagers he has contact with were kicked out of school at a very young age. Most parents have been banned and barred from school property. This problem leads to a disconnect with the educational process that in turn leaves no economic hope for our area of Omaha.
Without an educated workforce we cannot get businesses to locate in our area. While most places are fighting to keep Wal-marts out of their communities we can't get one here to save our lives. Paypal has its main office in our metropolitan area and chose to locate it where the company is having a hard time finding workers. North Omaha was never in the running for the location. North Omaha has Eppley airfield and railroad access. This important transportation access should be a boone to our community but due to lack of an educated workforce it isn't.
This vicious cycle of lack of education is a minority issue in the state of Nebraska. This state has one of the highest graduation rates for white students in the country but one of the worst graduation rates for minorities (see the Manhatten Istitute study). As well, unemployment for Douglas County (of which Omaha is the county seat) is running at 4.4% but North Omaha is showing an astounding 26% rate.
Most recently my family filed for information about ban and bars from Omaha Public Schools. We filed under the freedom of information act and received a list from May of 2001 to May of 2006. What OPS gave us was a list that only included one school in what is considered to be west Omaha. The vast majority of the ban and bars were located in North Omaha with a smattering found in South Omaha where there is a large Hispanic and Black population. This unfortunate information gives us a snapshot of racism at its most insidious level.
What we are asking for as a community is the right to have access to and control in our public schools. That is what public means. People choose to live where they want to and that is their right in this country. Most people choose to live within their comfort zone and you will find that it most resembles "birds of a feather" type communities. As long as everyone is treated fairly why is that a problem?
In the words of that great En Vogue song: Free your mind and the rest will follow, be color-blind don't be so shallow!
I find this bill ridiculous.
Submitted by Veronica Semer (not verified) on October 17, 2006 - 18:31.
I find this bill ridiculous. I attend Suffolk University in Boston and just recently learned about this from a classmate of ours. He brought it up while we were discussing Jonathan Kozol's "The Shame of the Nation." He is from Omaha and is personally offended and appauled by this, and he is white. His younger brothers and sisters would end up attending a predominately black school. Now they would be a miniority and while they have no problem with that they are the miniority but a problem with the concept of this movement.
Did our nation not work so hard and put so much work into pushing our nation towards equality? Now I know as well as the next person that our nation is not completely equal... not even close to being like that. However, I do know that our nation is one of the only ones who comes even close to practicing equality. So how is re-segragating schools going to help us as a nation keep moving toward equality?
It may help students learn easier, in one way... but what a major drawback we would have. Children and young adults NEED to be put in diverse communities, and the biggest community that children spend the most of their time in, is school. When taking away diversity of race or even gender (of any specific background) we take away a social value from our kids. It is good for students to interact with each other and learn from each other including learning about different cultures from not just books and reading about it but from experiencing it and seeing it in front of you. A white teacher can't teach white children what it is to be African American. Just like a Hispanic teach can't teach Hispanic children white it is to be White. As well as an African American teacher can't teach African American children what it is to be Hispanic. YOU JUST CAN'T.
This is absolutely ridiculous and determental to everyone in this nation. Yes, it may just be one city... for now. But what will it do when students around our nation start to go to segragated schools again?.. How does this help us?.. It won't matter if it is easier to raise test scores. Because even though our test scores are up, our racist views will also be up.
Our Nation is about being together and helping one another, no matter their races, ethncity, gender, sexuality preference, religion or any other factor that may be different. We are for coming together from different cultures and adding all that we can to make our country the best. Whats next, seperating public bathrooms again?
In a perfect society, I
Submitted by Anna (not verified) on July 2, 2006 - 13:47.
In a perfect society, I think segregated schools would work well for our children. But we all know that the powers-that-be of our society are not fair and equal to all. I worked at an Afro-centric school. Children of other races were welcomed, and few had ever applied. One thing about this school is that while catering to the cultural comforts of the students, the school was run with a nondiscriminatory attitude. Our students were accustomed to high academic and behavior standards. They were poised and educated; they were welcomed in all communities, including the Amish community, because of their behavior and attitudes. If schools everywhere could be conducted as this school is, students everywhere would be successful.
I cannot believe we are
Submitted by Christine Nicolosi (not verified) on June 15, 2006 - 21:51.
I cannot believe we are still looking at each others SKIN COLOR and making decisions based upon this. This is extremely disturbing and saddening for me.
I work in the 2nd largest
Submitted by Hope (not verified) on June 10, 2006 - 20:54.
I work in the 2nd largest school district in Illinois. We are being sued by several Hispanic families because of our re-districting policies which essentially segregated the low SES groups (predominately Hispanic) and the upper-end SES groups. There seems to be a trend of sending kids to their neighborhood schools, which in effect is based on clear racial and SES status.
Prior to this policy, Hispanic students (primarily mono-lingual Spanish speakers) were bussed outside of their neighborhoods into hostile environments where they were not accepted or wanted. This action, while perhaps better for both communities as relates to understanding other cultures, further disenfranchised a group of people who did not feel connected to their communities or the school. My feeling is that Hispanics were bussed because they continue not to vote, therefore the predominately white school board would never be voted out because of these actions.
I believe this move occured for "neighborhood" schools because an upper-end neighborhood with very little racial integration had started proceedings to separate from the district. The district would lose money as well as the prestige of the higher test scores.
Meanwhile, the district has done very little to create an all-inclusive environment for the primarily Hispanic schools. Most principals and school principal secretaries do not speak Spanish, nor are they Hispanic - instead, a Hispanic liason is hired to interface with one group of people - the mono-lingual child and parents. Only recently, have I begun to see a change in the main district office - now one can see Hispanic faces in secretarial positions and some very upper level positions.
With these type of practices, Hispanic communities will never be able to take control or have a real say in their schools because the leadership is unable to communicate with them in meaningful and knowing ways. Having said all this, the question still remains - does community control necessarily mean better instruction? If a community is empowered with this type of control, does it just mean that the faces will change, but not the politics?
I don't know if we will win the law suit, but I do know that we are expending lots of money that we don't have to win the law suit. In Rockford, Illinois, where a similar law suit was filed - they lost. In the end, the community of Rockford suffered financially and great racial divide continue to be felt throughout the community and schools. There just has to be a better way of doing the right thing.
Everyone here has spoken
Submitted by Patricia A. Smith (not verified) on June 10, 2006 - 17:56.
Everyone here has spoken solidly from his or her own experience. Everyone has stated his or her own opinion in a highly professional manner. One piece of the issue I have not seen addressed concerns the right of a community, or, in the case of Omaha, NE, a large city's three constituent communities, each smaller community's right to self determination in the area of determining how their children will be educated, how it will be financed, who will pay for it, and, of course, who will attend school in which constituent community.
The city Omaha went to court to request permission to break up into three consituent smaller communities for educational purposes because breaking up along community lines would CREATE a situation in which segregated schools would be created. Why would segregated schools be created where they did not exist before? The answer lies in the fact that people have already chosen, more or less, to live where they do.
Should we ask people to move, so that ALL THREE communities are forced to be more diverse? I am not, by any means saying we should not educate our students to be world citizens. I am very fortunate to live in a very diverse community, and teach in a school which is approximately close to being half black, between a third and a half white, with the rest Hispanic, with the Hispanic population growing yearly. It is a student population teeming with creativity and brilliance that is truly wonderful to nurture and watch grow, as a teacher. However, these folks live together here, because they WANT TO, not because anyone forces them to.
To force the city of Omaha to continue as a unified school district, when it would be better served, in the minds of those selected to serve as guardians of the school system, by breaking up into three smaller school systems, is, to my mind, wrong. Much has been written elsewhere concerning a need for smaller communities within large high schools, as well as project based learning, and safer environments for students. Perhaps the caretakers of the Omaha system truly believe their population is better served in this way, REGARDLESS of the racial makeup of the three constituent communities.
It is my opinion that, many times, many of us see racial motivations or racism, when there are simply other issues we either would rather not address, or feel overwhelmed by. It does not make us racist to address those issues, or to feel that we need to put race on the back burner and address a myriad of other problems first. Teenage pregnancy, high school dropout rates, a need for young people to have more realistic preparation for life in the work communities they face after high school: these issues, to my mind, are more important than race, and if we are wasting time and taxpayers' money with court cases, the children are going to be the losers.
I believe that the three new constituencies need to keep in mind that educating for cultural literacy is an important part of ALL childrens' educations and that they cannot leave their children behind when it comes to learning how people around the world live, think and create. It is more difficult to do this in an environment where most people are homogenously grouped, whether it is by race, or by another factor, such as socioeconomic level, or cultural group. But, it can be done. As a music teacher, I will never forget teaching my youngest students how to sing in Japanese, or teaching fourth graders Australia's "unofficial" national anthem, Waltzing Matilda, this past year. Will any of these children ever visit those places? More than likely, no; however, they are beginning to gain an awareness of a wider world away from here, where people act and think, and communicate very differently than any of the cultural groups in our school.
However the Omaha situation turns out, I wish all the people the best of luck in restructuring their educational system in order to better serve those who we must always keep in mind: the children.
We are a society that is
Submitted by Scott Guild (not verified) on June 9, 2006 - 23:18.
We are a society that is becoming more diverse rather than less, E pluribus unum means from many one. This phrase related initially to the many states becoming one nation but it also applies to the fact that our forefathers came from many cultures but elected to adopt the title and culture of being American, So this phrase also applies to the citizens of this country. We are one nation, with one set of rules and should have one set of expectations for all. Separate but equal was a practice that demonnstarted how unequal separate schools, equipment and allocation on money could be.
I can understand how some Americans may fear the demographic changes that are occuring to them. However, the way to respond to these changes is not to retrench, but to work harder on delivering the American dream for all.
I don't think that the issue
Submitted by Rhonda Browning (not verified) on June 9, 2006 - 02:49.
I don't think that the issue is whether segregated schools can be effective or not. Of course they can teach literacy and numeracy, stuff in test taking skills and, also provide a quality education. It does not matter as to effectiveness. Rather the issue is whether segregated schools can be equal. The problem with racial differences in achievement is not really a racial issue in the first place. It is a socio-economic issue. Poor kids do not have the resources that wealthy kids have. They don't have the early education, the life experiences that make one educated, and, often, they don't have parents who know what to do to develop the minds of their children or are too busy just trying to keep them fed to do so. Unfortunately in many places, a larger percentage of brown people are poor than white people. Therefore, a socioeconomic difference looks like a racial difference. Middle class African American students do just as well in school as middle class white students. Poor white students score like poor black students.
The problem with segregated schools is that they do not prepare the children for the real world. If the only people you are around are people who look like you, you are not likely to be comfortable with people who do not look like you. The best way to learn about individual and culture differences is to be around people who are different. I have been around a whole lot of African Americans. Some of the people closest to me are black. There are cultural differences, but even they are not absolute. I have found however, that the only real consistent difference between white people and black people is what you do to make your hair behave!!! That is it. Black people put oil based hair products in to make their hair smooth and shiny. In a pinch, some use vaseline. White people wash their hair frequently to take the oil out so it does not look like they washed it in vaseline.
Children are not naturally prejudiced. They have to be taught. Children learn best with hands-on experiences. Hands-on eucation readily extends to sitting in a desk next to your friend whose mama combs oil through her hair so it won't be tangled, while your mama washes, conditions and painfully combs out the tangles in yours. I learned this many years ago by watching my black college roomate fix her hair.
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