Civil Rights Commission Takes On Diversity In K-12 Schools
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights assembled a panel of experts last month to discuss whether elementary and high school students really benefit from a diverse school environment.
The briefing was prompted by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to weigh in later this year on the extent to which public K-12 schools can use race in school assignments. In two cases before the court, one from Seattle and the other from Louisville, Ky., White parents sued their school districts after their children were denied enrollment in their preferred schools because of the districts’ efforts to maintain racial balances.
According to Dr. Michal Kurlaender, an assistant professor of education at the University of California, Davis, attending a diverse school can provide an enhanced learning environment, increase social interaction, improve attitudes and citizenship and lead to educational and occupational gains.
“Studies also show White students’ proximity to Black students leads to their likelihood of cross-racial interactions and friendships, which continue later in life and in the work place,” Kurlaender said during the panel discussion.
Dr. Stephan Thernstrom, a professor of history at Harvard University and co-author of America in Black and White: One Nation Indivisible, took the opposite opinion, calling race-based student placement in public schools “morally repugnant.”
And, Dr. David J. Armor, professor of public policy at George Mason University, disputed the assertion that students are best served by racially balanced schools.
