Segregation In School Segregation

When segregation in schools was abolished in the 1950’s, the African American community surely did not anticipate any outcome that wasn’t positive. This is not to say that American schools should remain segregated, however, the sudden shift in the societal structure caused an imbalance in, what was intended to be, an equal opportunity classroom. The short-term effects of desegregation in schools seemed to result in a positive sense of self for African American boys. In the 1970 journal School Desegregation and Self-Concept, Gloria J. Powell found that black males flourished in desegregated schools because their athletic advantage allowed them to receive appraisal from their peers. This social acceptance naturally resulted in a higher

Sure, in the late 1950’s black and white children were finally studying in the same classrooms, learning the same curriculum, but they did not begin at the same level. The African American students were raised by parents who were not allowed to be educated at the same level as white students, and could hence not attain high-paying professions. Though public education is technically free, a family of wealth can provide a certain level of support to their child that a lower-income family cannot. This support can be as clear-cut as expensive private tutors, or it could mean that students who come from lower-income families need to juggle their homework with a part-time job. “Some teachers also spoke of Black students’—all Black students’—low levels of achievements as the result of their families culture of poverty, and not the result of what the school offered them.” (Sadovnik, Page 163) Working in a preschool for 3 years from my experience, no matter what income struggles the families of the school face on a daily basis, we provide education for them. If the students of the school need extra help, we have after school programs that give access to the

Desegregation takes a toll on the child’s emotions. The experiences the children go through on a daily basis, It affects the psychological long-term effects the child will be facing later in life. As Dewey explains in his book ,Experience & Education. “Control of individual actions is affected by the whole situation in which individuals are involved, in which they share and of which they are co-operative or interacting parts . For even in a competitive game there is a certain kind of participation, of sharing in a common experience.” (Dewey, Page 53) The children that lived through the hardships of desegregation in the 1950s, all face a common experience. No matter what the race or color the child may