When thinking about issues regarding inequality within the public school system in the United States, one of the most obvious components is racial segregation. Schools all across the United States lack diversity, which in turn hurts students on both sides of the issue. The lack of racial diversity in schools is one of the leading causes of inequality of educational opportunity, but why?
Many reasons. For one, all students, not just minority students, benefit from racially diverse classrooms. Upper- and middle-class students have both seen positive effects from being exposed to a diverse environment. Students gain cognitive skills such as problem solving and critical thinking when they are exposed to people who are different from themselves. In addition to these benefits, students are also better equipped to survive and succeed in the democratic society that they will experience during adulthood. To ensure that students are gaining these important life skills, schools must take actions to desegregate.
Despite all of these benefits, public schools are more segregated now than they were in 1960’s. Today, one-third of black students attend school 
with a black population of over 90% and about one-half of white student attend schools with a white population of over 90%. How is this even possible, considering all of the achievements made since then concerning civil rights? Let’s discuss.
In the 1950’s, during Brown v. Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court decided that “separate but equal” facilities were inherently unequal, and therefore violated the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Because of that decision, all public schools in the nation had to integrate, even if that meant using the military to enforce it. Students were bussed from different districts just to ensure that all students had equal access to proper education.
In the majority opinion for the decision, Chief Justice Warren stated that having segregated schooling was detrimental to the personal and educational growth of African American students. This clearly is still a problem, except it has been proven to be detrimental to white students as well. All students need to have access to diverse environments in order to follow the democratic principles of the United States.
Segregation within the public school system might not seem like such a huge issue if all schools gave their students equal opportunities to succeed, however, as discussed in my previous blog post, this is not the case. Most high poverty schools are composed of mostly minority students. So not only are students losing out on the opportunity to learn in a diverse environment, but minority and low-income students are also losing out on basic educational opportunities. These low-income schools lack the proper resources to give these students the same opportunities that most middle- and upper-class white students have.
So, there is an issue regarding segregation of schools today, but what can we do about it? Can we even do anything about it?
There are many states and school districts that are doing their best to try to combat this issue. Some of these methods include redrawing district lines, providing bussing to different school districts, and creating magnet schools.
In 2016, the Obama Administration allocated $120 million dollars for a grant program called “Stronger Together”. This money would be awarded to school districts nationwide who were actively making an effort to integrate their schools. This created an incentive to actually solve the issue that many past administrations were afraid to even approach.
This new incentive caused many school districts to redraw their district lines based on socioeconomic status (because redrawing district lines based on race is unconstitutional). This, in turn, led to a decrease in racial segregation. By considering socioeconomic status when drawing district boundaries, school districts are becoming more economically and racially diverse.
The Obama Administration really pushed the idea of choice rather than forcing integration. By providing an incentive instead of compulsory bussing, there was much less opposition, because people wanted to get more federal money for their schools. In addition to the grant money, there has been a push for more magnet schools throughout the country.
Magnet schools are another means by which students and families are choosing to integrate themselves. Students apply for these magnet schools based on a particular area of study, rather than 
being placed in a school based on the neighborhood they live in. This offers them a chance to get a proper education, even if they live in a low-income area. These schools are especially beneficial to low-income students because they are free, so they don’t need to worry about affording a private education. Some magnet schools even have a lottery system to get in if there are more applicants than places in the school, just to ensure that all students have an equal chance of getting accepted, regardless of race or income.
Clearly, solving the problem of school segregation doesn’t have one clear-cut answer. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done to create more equality within the public school system, but we are slowly getting there, one step at a time.
I found it very interesting to learn about magnet schools, as I had never heard of them. I have noticed this lack of diversity my whole life, and it was really put into perspective when I came to college. The area I grew up in is very small and rural. My school district and most of the adjacent districts are spread out over a huge area because there is just so little people. There is extremely little diversity even among any of the neighboring schools, so for more secluded places, like where I am from, it is even harder to make them equal. If the lines were to be redrawn and kids went to different schools they could easily be driving over an hour to get to school everybody, as I was already driving 20 minutes for my school. I understand that in more urban areas, however, this problem is more severe and has more viable solutions that need to be implemented.
It is surprising that school segregation is still an issue, but it is certainly something that needs to be addressed. In my school district, there was some diversity, but it was lacking overall. I felt that I benefited immnesly from meeting various classmates from different backgrounds, but those students were clearly in the minority. I think the “Stronger Together” program was a wise decision, and the concept of magnet schools very interesting as well. By focusing on making classrooms more diverse, this country’s youth will benefit for years to come.