Minority Schools

Amy - posted on 03/24/2010

there's only on race - the human race. That being said, if you're going by skin color - hm. America's been that good ole melding pot for how long? I don't even know what all I am. I know a few: German, Native American, Spanish, Welsh.....How do you really put someone into a category? Do a geneology search? People are people and trying to say we are different is BS. Prejudice is a learned behavior.

Jennifer - posted on 03/24/2010

I don't agree with schools for just certain races. It would only increase racism and basically be going 1 step forward (gaining equality for all) and going 5 steps back (being racist).

Nicole - posted on 03/23/2010

As far as segregation building intolerance to other races, let me tell you more about my school district. I grew up in south Florida, near Miami, in a city called Hialeah. My elementary and middle schools were mostly hispanic. I could count on 2 hands the number of white kids in my school. There were a few black kids too, probably about as many as there were white. They didn't bus kids in to these schools. When I got to high school, I had a major culture shock. The high school I went to bussed in black kids from across town so my high school was about half black and half hispanic, with a handful of others (white, asian, etc). Growing up, I'd hear my parents say degrogetory things about black people (use the "N" word, etc) and I would tell them "That's not nice, why would you say that?". To be honest, when I got to high school, I understood. I'm by no means racist, I'll be friends with anyone who's friendly with me, but the majority of these kids they bussed in acted like fools! It sounded like a zoo when the busses got there, they way they ran through the halls, carrying on the way they did. They weren't all like this though. But unfortunately, a few bad apples spoiled the whole bunch. The ones that were in honors classes with me were good kids, there for an education. The ones in my elective classes, like woodshop, where they let any yahoo in, were horrible. I was uncomfortable walking through the halls alone when there were a bunch of them in such a small area. And I wasn't the only one. A (Cuban) friend of mine said to me one day "Now do you see why there's racism?". So in my case, instead of helping me learn to be more tolerant of other races (I was already tolerant, they never did anything to me, what did I have to be intolerant about?) it made me almost afraid of them because I had no idea what they were capable of doing. I was "color blind" until I went to high school.

Carolee - posted on 03/23/2010

Okay... so, first people were arguing that racism and segregation is bad (I agree), now they are trying to "take it back" and say it was better that way?



What would they plan on doing with bi-racial kids, then? If they had schools for every race, do you know how many schools that would be (if you counted each "type" of bi-racial as a separate race... Mexican/White, Mexican/Black, Black/White, Asian/Black, etc...)??? And, if we separate our kids due to race for any reason, aren't we just teaching our kids that racism is "the right thing to do"? I can't believe that anybody would actually suggest doing this!

Good Day! - posted on 03/23/2010

Well busing kids didn't work. No one wants their kid to go to a school an hour away and be on a bus for 2 hours or more. All that did was cause families with any kind of money to move out of the system or go private. Three towns (mine included) even pulled out of the district to create their own districts so that kids that lived here could go to school here instead of being bused an hour into the city. That created an all black system in the city. It's failing. Not because of the race, but because all the money left. I taught in 2 of the schools in the city. Rare to see a white face. I agree that purposeful desegregation would have been better than busing. Maybe there would still be money in the failing system. But on the other hand, it allows for legal racism. I don't know. Maybe just letting kids go to the school closest to their home (which makes the most sense anyway) would have been best. But we can't go back now. The damage is done. And now we are feeling the effects of it.

LaCi - posted on 03/23/2010

I don't think I agree with schools being open to one race, I don't know. Might be worth a shot.. I definitely don't agree with what the city I live next to does, which is bussing students all over the city to make sure they have a diverse population in each school. Grade school kids could be on the bus for hours to and from school. I don't think any of the parents actually like the situation. I haven't heard anyone speak in favor of it. It's terrible for childrens days to be extended for 4 or 5 hours just because of the busride, absolutely unacceptable. I understand the problems that can arise from inner city schools, I just think there HAS to be another way to provide a fair education to all without making students sit on a bus for an ungodly amount of time. Thanks Louisville, for making school more miserable for kids. Anything is worth a shot if it would prevent a situation like this.

Kelly - posted on 03/22/2010

It's an interesting theory. It really does not seem like it would be a good thing to me. Like Nicole said, people self segregate anyway, but in my experience (from the people I know, so I don't know how my sample of people will compare to the world in general) the people who grew up in "segregated" areas and interacted primarily with people only of their own race are far less accepting of people of a different race. Whereas, those who grew up in more racially diverse areas are much more accepting of people of other races. So to me, this would just breed more intolerance.
If they were going to try something like that, I would say it should definitely be a charter school, and they would need to make sure a school was established for every major race. But even then, I think it's a bad idea.

Alison - posted on 03/22/2010

I don't think it's a good idea for regular public schools to go down this road because they are supposed to be open for the whole public and not just a single race.



I can see how it might be helpful if charter schools were allowed to do this to help certain communities though. Single sex charter schools have produced good results for their students and single race schools might work too.



The difference between regular public schools and charter schools is that the family has to apply and get accepted into them, but it's still free education. Every child is still entitled to attend the zoned public school if the charter school isn't something they want to participate in.

Nicole - posted on 03/22/2010

I would've loved a minority only school, as I was the minority! I was one of only a handful of white kids in a school full of blacks and hispanics. People self segregate themselves anyway, I don't see what the big deal is. Quite frankly, I think kids should go to whatever school is in their district. If it's a single race neighborhood and as a result a single race school, so be it. I don't think bussing in kids from across town to desegregate the school does anyone any favors. As longs as they don't come out and say "Only people of this race can go to this school" I don't see what the problem is.