Across urban America we have neighborhoods that are predominantly white or black and the local schools are therefore corresponding mostly white or black. Segregation supports racism and it is about time we fixed both.
To understand segregation, we need to understand how it came about. The commander of Union forces in the Civil War, General Ulysses S. Grant was a champion of African Americans throughout the war. President Lincoln advocated for abolition of slavery and signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863.
During the final days of the Civil War, in 1865, Grant and Lincoln met frequently to discuss what “freedom” should mean for those enslaved. Their plan included the right to own property, to vote, hold office and have access to all schools, public transportation and commercial activities.
Five days after Lee surrendered to Grant, President Lincoln was assassinated. The Lincoln/Grant vision for the freed slaves died with the President.
During the post- war period, Lincoln’s replacement, Andrew Johnson, sided with the former Confederate states’ politicians to restrict equality for freed slaves. This, and other factors, led to the rise of Ku Klux Klan racism, threatening the lives and livelihood of all freed slaves.
For 100 years following the Civil War segregation was a principle pillar of the Democratic party platform. During presidential elections in the 1960s, Democratic candidate Governor George Wallace is best remembered for his segregationist views, “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 officially ended the 100-years of segregation; sort of. But, even in passage, only 7% of the Democrats in Congress from the former Confederate States voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act.
Stop for a moment and imagine where this country could be today if the Grant/Lincoln plan had been implemented in 1865 and the democrat party would not have had segregation as their centerpiece policy position for 100 years.
Racism is America begins with segregation, particularly segregated schools and that is the exact point where we can fix racism; not from some top-down bureaucrat-led federal program but rather from the bottom up.
Fact: black and white babies are not born bigoted or with hatred in their hearts; they learn it from adults. Racism is magnified by school segregation.
Let’s begin by defining the school segregation problem. Across this country there are about 25,000 “intensively segregated schools”, defined as schools with at least 90% non-white students. Intensively segregated minority schools overwhelmingly tend to have lower performance and fewer educational opportunities.
One reason they are lower performing is that many of them have lower quality teachers. There are two reasons for this. First, every profession, be it medical, legal, military or teachers, have some individuals who are just not good at what they do. Low-performing teachers should be asked to find another vocation. But the teachers’ union contracts make it nearly impossible to fire a teacher so they just hang on dragging down the quality of the instruction.
Secondly, everyone likes to work for a quality, winning organization and when the minority school ranking is below average, the best and brightest of the teachers voluntarily move on.
Here is an innovative concept that can, in a generation, fix our schools and by extension fix racism from the bottom up.
Clinton Mississippi, population about 25,000, has 5300 students in the public schools. The racial breakdown is 54% black, 36% white, 6% Asian, 2% Hispanic and 2% other.
In 1970 the district superintendent of schools, Virgil Belue, could see a complete lack of student integration. He implemented a plan that has been in place since 1971 (see THE WALL STREET JOURNAL article, 24 November, 2019 edition entitled, School Integration Model Lauded).
For classes beginning in the fall of 1971 Superintendent Belue assigned all the kindergartners and first graders to one school; that school would forever be K-first grade for the entire community. Grades 2 and 3 attended a different school that would forever be grades 2 and 3 only. This concept continued, two grades per school, encompassing all the school facilities and all grades K-12.
While the students would transfer every 2 years to a different school facility, the integrated classes of students remained together completely integrated all day, every day for 13 years. The downside, if it is one, is that it requires a little more bussing. Does it work? Here is some recent data from Google.
2018 Mississippi ranking data:
-Clinton High School is ranked #1 in the state in academics.
-Ranked #1 with best teachers.
-Ranked #2 in best places to teach.
-Ranked #4 in best school district.
-Has an overall “A” rating and is ranked #3 overall.
You might want to take a minute to look at these impressive stats one more time. But for the insight of Superintendent Belue, this school system would likely be a typical underachiever. But they are ranked at or near the top in every important category. You can bet teachers are not abandoning this ship.
This is segregation/racism fixed from the bottom up. Could any school district do this? Yes, by applying a few different metrics depending on the student population. For example, a school district with ten times the numbers of Clinton could divide their area of operation into smaller sections for integration.
The larger picture of Clinton Mississippi is that, after nearly 50 years, most of the adults in the Clinton community were educated under the Virgil Belue model, resulting in a community that is integrated in mind and spirit.
This concept is about accountability at the point of execution. It is not about accountability of some nameless, faceless bureaucrat in Washington with billions of appropriated tax dollars to spend on a series of worthless political ideas about how to deal with education, segregation and racism.
This plan is simple, doable and Clinton Mississippi is proof of concept. School boards do not need permission, just make it happen. “Bussing” does not have to be a dirty word, a political football or a failed concept. When applied evenly to every family, every student, in every school, every day, it works.
Merry Christmas,
Marv Covault