While I don't think that integrated schools necessarily ensure a quality education in terms of academics, I do feel that integration is essential in order to create a well-rounded student and overall person. Because minority schools are usually seen as "bad" schools, and schools with mostly caucasian students are seen as "good" schools, one would probably argue that adding white students to a minority school would be detrimental those white children, and that adding minority students to a mostly white school would make that school worse. Even if this is true in terms of the academic benefits or detriments, and there isn't really any saying that it is, keeping schools segregated inhibits students from learning about other people and their cultures. Children go to school not only to learn about academic topics, but to learn about other people as well. School is the center of every child's life, and the type of people with whom he attends defines who he will grow up to be. It's impossible for one to be tolerant if he was never exposed to difference, and it's impossible to teach students that they have to be accepting of others while the entire classroom is homogenous. It may be true that integrating schools that are currently self-segregated might hurt the academics for some students. However, at the same time, integration would be giving students who otherwise wouldn't have many options a chance. And in the long run, what some students could lose in the quality of their education will be made up for in their character. The quality of a persons schooling doesn't matter at all if he can't work with anybody who is the least bit different from him when he enters the real world.