Does student integration in schools matter in order to ensure educational equity?

            Before the debate I thought that integration was definitely the first step we should take to fix our education system. During the conversation we discussed how both sides arguments were equally helpful for the system but the problem was how we could integrate schools. In places like New York City integration would not be as difficult, with easy public transportation like buses and subways. However, in a rural area like Maine, where there is little diversity in a whole town or group of towns, it would be very difficult to transport students into a school to diversify it. Little or no parents would want their kids to have to travel two or three hours each way to get to school everyday. I do think that integration is very important in ensuring that students have a full education. Knowing about other cultures is important for students to have a quality education. However there are so many other issues with our educational system (underfunding, teachers not being trained enough, etc.) that need to be fixed. Integration is just not practical at this point in time.

--Nicole Stern