Why I think school integration is essential

After the debate I am still finding myself arguing that integration is the first step towards educational equity. Not only is integration important and beneficial for a child’s development in terms of how they see the world and others around them but it is also a vital first step in the right direction towards closing the achievement gap. 

      Things like funding, better teachers and sufficient materials are things that I think would be addressed once schools become integrated. While it would be amazing for schools to get more funding, it is unrealistic to think that after all this time our government will have a change of heart and decide to provide more money to the poorer schools in the poorer neighborhoods that have been suffering and not hitting the mark for years. Public schools that are in more well off neighborhoods receive more funding, so if bussing (which, yes, would be challenging and would probably cause much controversy at first) could take kids from poorer neighborhoods and as a result underperforming schools and bring them to these schools that because of their geographic location are receiving more funding, those students would be in a better school. I think early action is key in all of this. I am in no way suggesting that a child be picked out of their school in the 5th grade and dropped into a place drastically different from what they have known their entire life. 

        The sad reality is that in many of these poorer schools the parents of the students don't have as much power because they are for the most part minorities. If the schools were to be integrated parents who are more well off and who because of their race have more privilege in our society would most likely donate money to the school, as many do today, and give the parent body a voice that the heads of schools would be more immediately responsive to. When you look at the public schools that are doing well and have all the resources they need, they are the ones in affluent areas and when you look at the ones that are struggling more they are in poorer areas and I don't see anything changing unless we take action. Integration, yes, will be challenging and will cause much controversy, but in order for us to progress as a society and break down the ignorance and the inequality and provide kids with the same encouragement and learning experience, we need to try. In our society money and race matter a lot more than we acknowledge. There is a reason Brown vs. Board of Education was a necessary fight to be fought- there is NO such thing as separate but equal. Essentially we are staying in the past if we don’t address the necessity of school integration.