The Reality of Race

In 1974, Mark Twain Intermediate School in Brooklyn was served with a desegregation order, mandating that the school maintain a student body whose racial makeup mirrored that of the community—at the time, 70 percent white and 30 percent minority. In subsequent years, Mark Twain was converted into a school for the gifted, and demographic shifts—notably, a decline in the proportion of white students—have forced the school to turn minority students away. Last week, however, federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein overturned the ruling: “The defendants have complied with the 1974 remedial order. Mark Twain has been desegregated. The court has no further jurisdiction in this case.”

And rightly so. For the 1974 order no longer served the compelling interest for which it was intended: avoiding racial isolation and equality of opportunity in public schooling.

While last week’s federal order suggests a move toward more race-neutral policy, the use of race-conscious admissions policy in public schooling still has its place in American society. Certainly, race-based discrimination has a heavy and gruesome history in this country, one that has made the court apply the strictest scrutiny to cases involving racial categories. Yet, there remains a strong interest in maintaining integrated schools, even if they require race-conscious admissions policies. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in his 2007 concurrence in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, reiterated our nation’s “moral and ethical obligation to fulfill its historic commitment to creating an integrated society that ensures equal opportunity for all its children,” and argued that certain “narrowly-tailored” race-conscious policies may be constitutionally permissible.

Yet the use of race, for even the noblest of ends, still remains a contention topic, particularly amongst modern social scientists who rail against race as a mere social construct. A post-racial America may eventually be realized, but the current moment in American society is still fraught with racism and race-consciousness. Until race-neutral policies are able to yield fair and equal opportunities in education, we must be attentive to the reality of de facto segregation, especially in education. Only when these persistent, gaping inequities in public education and school resources subside can education truly become the “great equalizer.”

Attempts at artificial racial integration in schools, however, must be designed with the utmost caution. Past attempts at busing and redistricting have not only led to social unrest, but also to a lowered quality of education for the students involved. Education consists of far more than mere classroom experiences. Community integration, extracurricular activities, and after school programs all weave together the fabric of a student’s educational experience, and programs aimed at integration must be careful not to drastically disrupt these elements of a child’s schooling. Moreover, integration programs should pay special attention to the abundance of social-scientific research detailing the impact of such efforts on student learning outcomes.

Ultimately, public schooling, be it race-conscious or not, must be primarily focused on the overall quality of a student’s education. Such an end entails far more than just the success of an individual teacher or textbook, but the entirety of the educational experience—ties to the community, the racial diversity of a classroom, and the equality of educational programs. And until these goals are accessible to all, race-conscious policies may be necessary to ensure that children of every race receive an adequate education.