Have our schools really been desegregated?

I recently listened to and read a podcast about desegregating our schools entitled The Problem We All Live With. The podcast caused me to stop and think about whether desegregation was actually successful or if our nation just swept the changes under the rug.

Nikole Hannah-Jones looks into what will really help our nation’s education system become better. She believes that integration and desegregation is the key to improving our education system overall. This idea shocked me because I’ve always been under the assumption that we did a decent job desegregating during the Civil Rights Movement. Jones talks about how white students, the majority at my school, have better schools because they have better funding and usually come from a family above the poverty line. 
I enjoy the fact that first thing that you see as you start the podcast is the Norman Rockwell painting by the same name as the podcast. This painting is important to this podcast because it is a depiction of the Ruby Bridges going to a white school/desegregating schools. The painting is titled The Problem That We All Live With. This painting represents the segregation and separation of the different races during the Civil Rights movement, but it doesn’t just pertain to that era. The painting is relevant to today and the segregation that is seen in today’s school system. Now every time I think about the school system I’ll think of the painting and its importance.

​https://www.thisamericanlife.org/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with-part-one

This podcast was an eye opener when it comes to society and its treatment of the different types of people. Coming from a small town where there are only two high schools and is mainly made up of white families it’s hard to imagine a school with a lot of diversity, but going to school at Western, I feel like there is a lot of diversity. With that said, I could never imagine doing what Francis Howell did. The parents present some legitimate concerns such as class size, but it was all undermined by the fact that they were refusing to talk about race and confront the real issue. The parents are willing to stand there and shout into mics about how the issue has nothing to do with race when everyone knows that is the only real issue.

Maybe I’m not worried about race and integration because my parents raised me to appreciate the differences that everyone brings and how they benefit society as a whole. Listening to Marea talk about the meeting makes me feel disgusting. I wish that Marea’s mother had gone to the mic to talk about how the students from Normandy “could be the doctor that saves one of their lives”. And then Marea went to school and the students and teachers accepted her, which is a great way to show how our school system contrasts/clashes within itself.
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Now that I know that race and integration is still a problem in today’s school system, the question becomes what do I do with this knowledge and the reality of this knowledge. When you are aware of what is happening in the school systems is when you can start making a difference. Coming from the kind of school system that I went through I know, now, how important it is for there to be a very diverse setting in schools. I hope that as a teacher I will be able to help my school system see the errors of their ways if we provide the kind of education system that Normandy has. I hope that if I find a job in a school system like what Francis Howell has become, that I can continue to help my school get better when it comes to segregation and failing students. After listening to the podcast, I'm willing to do almost anything to help our students integrate and become more diverse.

I was wary about the topic of segregation and its role in the present time, but the more Nikole Hannah-Jones talked, the more what she was saying made sense. The idea that our schools are still segregated was a shock to me. I may not have come from a very diverse school but through this podcast and our discussion I now have a better understanding of what I need to do as a future educator to continue to diversify our education system.

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Here is the link to listen to the podcast and some links to read further into it desegregation and its impact on school systems:
https://hw3.thisamericanlife.org/sites/default/files/styles/landscape/public/episodes/images/562.png?itok=vlgIRhDe
http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2018/03/16/new-report-school-segregation-is-on-the-rise-in-nc-and-its-harming-our-kids/
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article205580044.html
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