Student Integration and Educational Equity

Going into our debate about integration in schools, I adamantly believed that integration was the first step in moving forward in our educational system. Although I initially strongly believed in this opinion, after the debate, I believe my viewpoint has become more nuanced than simply believing whole heartedly in one side or the other. I am still a firm believer in the importance of an integrated education. I believe that having integrated schools systems is the first step in fighting against systemic racism and changing the way in which people think about race, class, etc. but, I believe there are steps we need to take in our educational system before we look at this particular problem. The schools that many of our students are going to are severely under resourced and struggle with large class sizes and low quality teachers, making it impossible for children to get a quality education whether it is integrated or not. Some argue that integrating schools will solve the issue at hand under the premise that by mixing races you will no longer be able to have schools that are "good" or "bad" determined by the race of its students.Although I agree that, in a perfect world, I would hope that integrating would be able to level the playing field for all but, I sadly believe that our educational system is too broken and that integrating will only fix one of the many problems that schools are faced with. To make an analogy, pushing for integration before fixing some the essential problems of our school system is like putting a bandage on a wound that has not been properly taken care of. Although you are fixing one of the problems at hand, i the wound could still fester and the bandage will not ever be able to stick until the wound is cleaned. Much like the bandage, integration is fixing an important problem but not the first problem that needs to be fixed. For integration in schools to be fully affective, the funding of our schools needs to be addressed. With more funding, schools would be able to have up to date material, better teachers and safer facilities, all of which are key element to a quality education. Once we take steps towards the basic needs of a quality education, it is then I believe we will be able to attack the more complicated needs of students such as the need for acceptance, support, community, diversity and a broad view of the world that I feel will come with an integrated educational system.