School segregation in the United States

rdf:langString School segregation in the United States

rdf:langString November 2021

rdf:langString "This text states that within-district segregation is allowed because of a ban on cross-district desegregation."

rdf:langString School segregation in the United States is the separation of students based on their race. This has taken two forms, legally mandated segregation (historically), and segregation in fact. In the United States, public schools are primarily a U.S. state and local matter, not a national matter, and historically, public school systems in parts of the United States were racially segregated by law (see, Jim Crow laws). All such laws were overturned in the 1950s and 1960s, but for a variety of reasons racial concentrations continue in many areas. Currently more than half of all students in the United States attend school districts with high racial concentrations (over 75% either white or nonwhite students) and about 40% of black students attend schools where 90%-100% of students are non-white. Contemporary school racial segregation is most noticeable in California and New York. Racial segregation in schools has a long history in the United States. Although enforced racial segregation is now illegal, American schools are more racially segregated now than in the late 1960s, when segregation laws were finally dismantled. It's been proposed that school segregation is increasing due to redistricting, housing patterns, school secession, and a 2007 Supreme Court decision that made it illegal for school districts to voluntarily use racial classifications to try to reduce racial segregation. Segregation took de jure form with the passage of Jim Crow laws in the 19th century in the Southern United States where at the time 90% and more of African Americans lived. These laws were influenced by the history of slavery and discrimination in the US, and stated that schools must be separated by race but offer equal amenities; however, facilities and services were far from equal, and sometimes even non-existent for minorities. Secondary schools for African Americans in the South were called training schools instead of high schools in order to appease racist whites and focused on vocational education. After the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, which banned segregated school laws, school segregation took de facto form. School segregation declined rapidly during the late 1960s and early 1970s as the government became strict on schools' plans to combat segregation more effectively as a result of Green v. County School Board of New Kent County. However, voluntary segregation appears to have increased since 1990 based on decreases in the amount of interactions between black and white students, also known as the black-white exposure index, and the resegregation of blacks in public schools. Residential segregation in the United States and school choice, both historically and currently, have had a considerable effect on school segregation. Not only does the current segregation of neighborhoods and schools in the US affect social issues and practices, but it is considered by some to be a factor in the achievement gap between Black and white students. Some authors such as Jerry Roziek and Ta-Nehisi Coates highlight the importance of tackling the root concept of racism instead of desegregation efforts that arise as a result of the end of de jure segregation. Along with educational and social outcomes, the average income and occupational aspirations of minority households that are products of segregated schooling have worse outcomes than the products of desegregated schooling.