Still Separate Still Unequal Summary

One of the great qualities of America is that everyone is entitled to equal opportunities. That if we work hard enough we will be able to reach amazing heights and pave the way to a better future, but unfortunately some aren’t given that fair chance and it’s America’s children who are sadly suffering. All over the country children in public schools, minorities especially, are being subjected to school segregation. Based on matters such as race, ethnicity, and social class students are given an education that undoubtedly contradicts the promise of equal educational opportunities. The goal of America’s educational system is to provide all of the nation’s students with a public, gratuitous education that is of fair and equal quality, insuring

Inspirational leaders of integration such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall, fought to end segregation in education and the world, and significantly left their mark upon it. Unfortunately, the names of some of the most segregated schools in the country are named after them. Why is that? It is because of the prejudicial factors that America’s educational system allows, which corresponds to the uncontrollable circumstances that are negatively affecting the educational opportunities of children. Longtime educational critic and author of “Still Separate, Still Unequal” Jonathan Kozol, believes that school segregation may be more common today than it’s ever been before. In fact, he argues that resegregation in inner city schools is surprisingly voluntarily or even by forced upon by law but no one will admit to this. According to Jonathan Kozol, “There is, indeed, a seemingly agreed-upon convention in much of the media today not even to use an accurate descriptor like ‘racial segregation’ in a narrative description of a segregated school” (204). This here suggests that society itself can’t even admit to this issue. The concept of racial segregation is unfathomable but it’s happening, and it’s happening in our schools as if it were the norm. People believe that just because there are a few white

The idea of desegregation focuses on putting an end to the inequality among races, and in this sense student education. Forced desegregation in schools helps all students achieve more academically and equalizes America’s educational system In This American Life podcast titled, “The Problem We All Live With” the spotlight is on the students of the Normandy School District in Normandy, Missouri and their controversial journey to receive quality education. Nikole Hanna-Jones takes us through the course Normandy students had to take to get there, despite the complaints from parents or a community. Jones explains that there isn’t anything magical when a black child goes to school with a white child and there will be no switch that will automatically make them understand material but what is does is, “it gives access to quality teachers and quality instruction” (Nikole Hanna-Jones). With this access, students are given a chance to succeed, and this podcast emphasizes that not everyone is given this opportunity like the students at Normandy and like students all over country. If the educational system truly provided all children with equal access to education there would be no need for desegregation. Unfortunately, there is. Education is of such importance that even at the worst of times it is still on the mind. Nikole