Often Separate, Often Unequal

School integration in the civil rights era right into the 1970's did something quite remarkable. It worked!! During that period a recent study found that the black school dropout rate fell by a full 25%. A more comprehensive study in 2011 found that the desegregation of the schools in American led to higher earnings, better health and better prospects for life.

Those were indeed positive results of school desegregation as a result of the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1964. Sadly, today, nearly half of the nation's students are low income. A full forty-four percent are students of color. Guess what? Both the low income and students of color are attending segregated schools.

Right now, from my vantage point, I don't believe we have bottomed-out on the segregation problem. As long as the horror of poverty remains and worsens it will leave the most vulnerable behind in those areas which are langusishing. Until these areas of blight are truly repaired school segregation and student stagnation will proliferate.

Now is not the time to mark the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education; rather, it is a time for action.

Dick