Emma Rose: Integration Response

In my opinion, integration is necessary for a good education. As we discussed in our critical conversation, education is about more than just learning facts and reading books. An all-inclusive, well rounded education ideally should teach students about how the world works. When students are exposed to people from many different backgrounds, both socioeconomic and racial, they learn to be sensitive and politically correct people. While integration is not necessary, per se, to learn calculus, it is necessary to emotional and mental growth. In the “real world”, book smarts and worldliness are equally important. Similarly, the “real world” is not made of one race. If a student has gone to school for thirteen years and never had to interact with a person of a different race, they might not know how to treat their different-race colleagues and clients in the work place. Although it is impossible in today's world to be truly “color blind”, integrated education starting at a young age helps prevent students from singling people out in an extreme way. Additionally, children are so malleable in elementary school that, if their classes were ethnically diverse, they will not grow up to be racist and bigoted adults. If we can integrate all schools now, there is a chance that we might be able to cycle racism out of our society.