Desegregation in Schools

Kimani Williams

September 28th, 2014

ENG1100

Professor Young

                                                        Desegregation in Schools    

Overtime, we see communities undergo numerous changes, whether it be climate, population, economic or social change. Educator,Valerie Kinloch, documents a walk-through video with students Phillip and Khaleeq, as they explore the effects of the gentrification in Harlem. Gentrification is the restoration of lower-class neighborhoods with new attractions, which can result in displacement of low-income people. Phillip believes “ With schools and gentrification”, he cannot sing his own “art”, which affects his freedom, expression and identity. Phillip makes an arguable point when he states, “ Schools try to make us into machines.”. In other words he believes schools teach their students to dwell in society rather than taking action if needed. Growing up and attending school in a low-income neighborhood, there is truth in the defective way New York City runs their department of education. New York has the most segregated public schools in the country as students are isolated by class and race. Citywide and Community Education councils need to alter school choice programs, create voluntary desegregation plans, and promote the creation of more magnet schools, so students of all ethnic groups understand diversity, learn from their peers and have equal access to education.

New York City public school students’ education is suffering, especially for those live in highly stratified neighborhoods. Latino and African American students who live in low-income neighborhoods, attend schools with less-qualified teachers, insufficient learning materials, high dropout rates, and weak association with colleges.  Canarsie ( a neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY), being the place where I’ve experienced my majority of years learning, has schools where the teachers who don’t really care for the students’ success in class. The relationship between students and teachers are less encouraging because the majority of the teachers do not know how to communicate with students; students who aren’t born into privileged lifestyles which can affect their learning process. Most students don’t have a choice to attend different schools, because they are generally zoned to school based in where they live. With the creation of more magnet schools students will have the choice to be exposed to different modes of instruction, and a diverse population.

Racial imbalance in New York City public schools hinders students’ chances of learning linguistic diversity and prevents them from learning how to operate in diverse settings, which can prepare them for the overall society. Students in Canarsie are more accustomed to being around fellow minorities, and this can consequently cause them to shy away from an environment different from their own. Schools don’t encourage their students to explore the educational options that are available, therefore students believe that their local environment is somewhere they should stay and be the only environment they should be comfortable in. However,  not only the city, but the country, is filled with people of different ethnicities, and when the students grow into working adults, it will be harder for them to network and communicate with their co-workers. A possible way to prevent this from being a trend is to create a voluntary desegregation plan, which is a policy that uses race as an admissions factor to determine if students can attend school outside of their neighborhoods. Although some parents believe this policy undermines a student’s individualism, this is a possible method that can broaden a student’s education and environment.

On the contrary, school integration is doubted in New York City, because of the small amount of white students and the large distance between schools. However, why aren’t there any high achievement schools in low-income neighborhoods so students don’t have to travel so far to get a better education? Why is that in the small population of white neighborhoods, better education is provided?  Instead of pushing students out of their neighborhoods, the New York City Department of Education should add better educational tools in poverty-based communities.

Students who live in neighborhoods with low-income communities are not given the same opportunities which affects their overall choices in the future. Changing the school choice plans, and implementing magnet schools that enroll integrated groups of children across school district will ultimately improve every student’s education, so they can dwell in a diverse environment and learn from each other.

Works Cited

Kinloch, Valerie.  “ Harlem, Art and Literacy and Documenting ‘Harlem Is Art’/ ‘Harlem as

            Art”