Brown V. The Board: The Next 50 Years Of Achievement? Empirical Analysis And Projection

Preserving the “Public” in Public Education for the Sake of Democracy

“…With the number of students of color rising dramatically to the degree that the "minority" has become the "majority" in certain geographic regions and school districts in the nation and children of color being more likely to be from low income families (Adams et al, 2006), it follows that if the educational system continues to underserve minorities, then schools will produce even greater numbers of under-or uneducated citizens. Unfortunately, little pressure exists to fundamentally alter structural arrangements to benefit disadvantaged students because, as educational historian Michael Katz (1971) wrote over three decades ago, "for those who control the system there has been no point in making fundamental structural alterations" (p. xxiv) when such alterations would threaten the position of those who benefit from the existing system-including teacher unions, professional and non-professional staff, middle and upper class parents and their children, school boards, and countless politicians.…”