Is school integration necessary for educational equality?

Is school integration necessary for educational equality?

Integration in the New York school systems is extremely important if the current issue with educational inequality is ever to be changed for the better. On June 11 my PD group debated this very issue and the main point that repeatedly came up was an issue with funding. Schools that were predominantly white are receiving more funding than minority schools and this means that many of these minority schools cannot provide for their students. I personally feel that although no one means to discriminate in how it distributes funding to schools, if every school was the same in terms of race then it would be a step towards are more equal distribution of funding. There would not longer be a way for anyone to say that a 'white school' is receiving more money because there would no longer be any single-race schools. 

Integration in schools is also crucial for learning among students. As much as a class focused on bridging the race gap can try, there is no substitute for learning through experience. If more schools worked on showing kids that other races are not just categories and names but in fact real children their age, it would make learning about being unprejudiced that much easier. One can only hear the fact that everyone should be equal enough times before it starts to mean nothing but if a student is growing up in an environment where they are dealing with kids of other races they can form bonds that bridge that race gap. Without proper integration kids will continue to grow to be adults and will always carry with them preconceived and false notions of what another race is really like. This can also be passed down to generations after and this cycle can be neverending. That being said, if schools were able to integrate, and students were able to learn that difference in appearance is not difference in attitude and personality, there would be an understanding between races that could never be created in any classroom. 

Overall I think that school integration is important because it will stop discrimination in wealth distribution and will also provide invaluable learning to children growing up in a city as diverse as New York City. Integration is a step towards a more accepting world and to some extent a more equal school system in which everyone is able to receive the teaching they need because there is no longer a discrimination of wealth schools of different races.