There is an important anniversary coming up. Monday will mark 50
years since the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of
Education noted separate schools for black and white students were
“inherently unequal.” But how much celebration is in
order?
The truth is segregation still exists in Los Angeles and in many
U.S. school districts. According to a Harvard University study,
current levels of school segregation almost match those of 1969,
one year after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. If
anything, integration feels like it’s moving backward.
In the 1980s desegregation reached its peak, but over the past
15 years our educational system has shamefully regressed.
We have outlawed segregation, but public schools aren’t
racially diverse. According to the recent study by Harvard’s
Civil Rights Project, 80 percent of Latino students attend schools
where minorities predominate. Similarly, white students go to
schools with mainly white students where they share “little
contact” with minorities.
The gap is only widening. Students today are isolated by
language differences, as well. English speakers are often separated
in different programs and classrooms from those who speak English
as a second language. This phenomenon is sometimes called
“schools within schools,” where students are grouped
and divided, according to education Professor Kris Gutierrez.
“While it is no longer legal to segregate on the basis of
race, there are new proxies for race. Language has become the new
proxy,” Gutierrez said.
UC admissions have been impacted, too. For the 2004-2005
academic year, only 199 black students were accepted to UCLA. These
dismal numbers marked a 25.5 percent decline from the 267 blacks
accepted in 2003. Minority presence in general on the UCLA
campus has decreased in the past few years.
Why are minorities left so behind? Why are we seeing fewer and
fewer black students on campus?
For one, there’s the issue of affirmative action. In 1996,
Proposition 209 banned race-considerate admissions at UC campuses.
UCLA and UC Berkeley became less racially diverse in the process.
UCLA is becoming less accessible to underprivileged minorities.
Secondly, schools are separate, and they’re not equal.
Take Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles, for example. The student
body is composed almost entirely of Latinos. While battling
overcrowding and understaffing, the often underqualified teachers
struggle with a large student body, many of whom speak English
as a second or third language. Inner-city schools often lack
Advanced Placement classes or social studies programs. School
administrators often justify these discrepancies on the basis that
students “just aren’t ready” for advanced
academic challenges.
But without academic opportunities there’s little room for
academic success. Sixty percent of all students at Roosevelt High
drop out. Eighty percent fall so academically behind that they
can’t catch up. Only 10 percent of those who graduate go on
to a four-year college, according to a recent NPR report. And
students at Roosevelt aren’t alone: In 2001, 75 percent of
white students graduated. But only 53 percent of all Latino
students, 50 percent of black students and 51 percent of Indian
American students made it to graduation day.
Black and Latino high schoolers read and perform mathematical
skills at the same level as white middle school students.
State funding alone can’t fix this problem. Though all
school districts are guaranteed the same amount of money, polluted
politics can sometimes overshadow equality. More affluent, white
schools naturally attract larger parent donations and sponsored
programs.
Educational equality? It’s not even close to being
accomplished. Though Brown v. Board of Education brought further
clarification of the government’s role in school integration,
the battle needs to continue.
The court desegregation decision indeed brought the struggle
onto TV screens and radios, alerting the general public.
But at UCLA and across the country, all students have an
obligation to understand the impact of ongoing educational
segregation. Perhaps students, parents and teachers alike can make
considerably greater efforts in creating and participating in an
educational system that truly includes everyone.
Fried is a first-year history student. E-mail her at
ifried@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.