PULLMAN, Wash. — Almost 50 years after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case that outlawed racially separate schools, Washington State University Assistant Professor Eric Anctil said American public schools are again moving toward segregation.
Anctil cited a recent report from the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University (https://www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu
/news/pressreleases.php/record_id=42/ ), which documents a “backward movement for desegregation in U.S. schools.”
The trend toward re-segregation in education is both wrong and illogical, Anctil said.
“Our colleges and corporations recognize we live in a global economy and generally have a strong commitment to civil rights and diversity. It makes no sense that our public school system is failing to build understanding among racial groups by becoming more segregated.”
The benefits of a racially and culturally integrated education are significant for all students, especially the white students, Anctil explained.
“Students in the majority culture benefit from interaction with students from minority cultures because it helps them understand and evaluate their own experiences. And certainly, white students are going to have to work and live in a diverse environment, and they need to understand and experience diversity.”
According to the Harvard report, Washington state had the second most integrated school system in the U.S. for black students in the 2001-2002 school year. During the same year, Washington also had the seventh most integrated school system for Latino students.
A copy of the report is available online at www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu/research/reseg04/brown50.pdf.
