Nation of Cowards

It seems to lead to segregation?

Charter Schools’ Growth Promoting Segregation, Studies Say

The growth of charter schools has promoted segregation both in California and nationwide, increasing the odds that black, Latino and white students will attend class with fewer children who look different from themselves, according to two new studies. *snip*

Charters are independently managed public schools that are exempt from some rules that govern traditional schools. About 2.5% of the nation’s students attend charters—a threefold increase over seven years. The Los Angeles Unified School District has more charters—enrolling about 9% of district students—than any school system in the country.

The trend toward segregation was especially notable for African American students. Nationally, 70% of black charter students attend schools where at least 90% of students are minorities. That’s double the figure for traditional public schools. The typical black charter-school student attends a campus where nearly three in four students also are black, researchers with the Civil Rights Project at UCLA said Thursday.

The other researchers also focused on economic segregation, looking at private companies that manage schools, in most cases charters. The enrollments at most of these campuses exacerbated income extremes, they concluded. Charters tended to serve higher-income students or lower-income students. Charters also were likely to serve fewer disabled students and fewer English learners. This report, soon to be officially released, was developed by education policy centers at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Arizona State University.

Both research teams, using somewhat different methods and data, questioned the direction of the Obama administration, which has pushed states to authorize more charter schools as a condition for receiving funding through “Race to the Top” grants. That position has proved to be powerful leverage as states struggle with decreased funding.

“We don’t want the Race to the Top to become a race to the past,” said Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project, alluding to the era of enforced segregation.

But here’s the kooky part, who is it calling for segregation?

Toronto trustees narrowly approve black school

TORONTO In a tight vote, Toronto District School Board trustees Tuesday night approved a contentious proposal for a black-focused school that opponents argued would be the equivalent of segregation.

The 11-9 vote in favour came after an evening of impassioned pleas both for and against the school from community members, including one from the mother of slain 15-year-old Jordan Manners.

Tuesday night’s vote means that an alternative Afrocentric school will open in the city in September, 2009, but its location and grade levels are still to be determined.

This is a bold decision, we’re opening ourselves up for real change in the system,” said trustee Michael Coteau, said after the vote. *snip*

It’s a bittersweet thing because it should have happened a long time ago and it shouldn’t have brought all this pain back to our black community. *snip*

Speakers in favour of the school said it’s misleading to equate it to segregation of black students. It’s not about segregation, it’s about self-determination, said Angela Wilson, who first proposed the idea to the school board.

Another speaker, Arlo Kempf, a father and former teacher, said that the board approving a black-focused school would be something courageous.

Seeing themselves [black students] in the curriculum, in their instructors is what’s needed, Mr. Kempf said.

Yep, if you guessed Blacks themselves and progressives you win the venereal disease of your choice! Yay!

The truth is that multi-racial societies are unnatural and painfully difficult to sustain and the moment you remove the intense pressure to sustain them people very naturally split out into homogeneous groups. And that is perfectly okay.

Segnala presso: