The short answer to the
question posed in NBC’s Chicago Town Hall is: No.
The Brown decision did not truly
end segregation. It did, however, certainly make some strides in state
mandates. And as of today, at the bare minimum, all students, no matter their
particular niche of diversity, have access
to an education. A huge disparity
still exists in the quality of the education to which they have access,
however. One need only visit the public schools of Detroit and the public
schools of Hartford, Connecticut to see that disparity.
 |
The first day of desegregation, on Sept. 8, 1954, at Fort Myer Elementary School in Fort Myer, Va
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/weekinreview/10liptak.htm
|
Despite the data on the
matter, a persistent mental model exists:
Well, if an African-American
child lived in Hartford, he or she would not be denied access to its
public schools. Therefore, Brown has done its work.
We can’t help where people choose to live.
Besides, we have magnet
schools that are open to everyone.
Thus, the issue of school
segregation through this discipline is a mental shrug of “Oh, well…” followed
by a presupposition of a “choice” and a cursory Band-Aid of “We’re trying”. The segregation today is much
more sordid than in the past because it is a silent belief and noiseless assent.
Hutchens (1999) asserts that “mental models
determine how we think and act” (p.65).
Unfortunately, the mental model of segregation persists in the minds of
the very ones who can make a change as they fall back on the comfort of mandated
legislation, arms open wide in supplication.
What else can we do?
Dr. Chandra Gill, educator, founder
and CEO of Blackademically Speaking,
put it best in the town hall discussion: “You know what's
striking to me is the fact that Doctor King suggested you can legislate policy
but you can’t legislate attitudes…why was Brown v. Board even necessary?”
Why did we have to be mandated to be fair? Why did we need a government entity to require us to allow all children a quality education?Brown has not ended and will not end--not until the mental models that require an authority to tell us what to do and what is right shift and the attitudes make a huge adjustment. This authority should already be IN us, not an external mandate OF us.
And it isn’t necessarily the loud, obnoxious, outspoken attitudes that cause the most problems. It can also be the quiet, unintentional ones.
My former school, a Title
urban school, was primarily composed of minority students. However, segregation
did exist in the form of “academies”. There was an “Agricultural Academy” and a
“Vet Academy”, for example. African-American students did not join these programs, and
the smaller percentage of white students gravitated to these academies.
However, the Chorus program
was predominantly African-American as their musical selections and style was
(still is) religious. To what degree does a teacher overseeing a program
segregate students?
Did I unintentionally segregate
students from the Theatre program, based on my curriculum and program choices? I
can only hope that I didn’t, and at the time, I really didn’t pay attention. But
the numbers of White students did exceed those of minority students.Thus, I can only conclude that I'm part of the problem and that I must, if I were to return, consciously make a change in my mental model: simply because someone is permitted to do something then everything's alright.
What Brown does remind me
every time I’m asked to comment or reflect upon it is that every child deserves
to go to a school that will provide them with the best opportunities in
education.
Every child, every school, every
program.
Mindy
Keller-Kyriakides is the author of Transparent
Teaching of Adolescents: Defining the Ideal Class for Students and Teachers.
Become part of the conversation!
References:
Holt, L. & Brooks, M. (Creators). (2010, April 28). NBC: Chicago town hall. [Video iCue]. Retrieved from: https://www.nbclearn.com
Hutchens,
D. (1999). Shadows of the neanderthal. Waltham, MA: Pegasus.
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