Civil Rights and Quality Education
Recently I have taken classes and been involved with extra-curricular work that deals with the study of the civil rights movement. I think that as we talk about educational equality and quality in this country, civil rights is something that we have to keep in mind.
A renowned Harvard study published in January 2003 as part of The Civil Rights Project at Harvard, found staggering evidence of resegregation spreading far and wide across the United States. In some measures, segregation is back to levels at which it existed prior to Brown vs. the Board of Education, the famous court case of 1954 that found ‘separate but equal’ institutions, particularly schools, to be inherently unequal and unconstitutional.
At the time, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the following, as part of the landmark decision:
“Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society. It is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It is the very foundation of good citizenship. Today it is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms."
Today, “the foundation of good citizenship” is yet again being systematically denied to African-Americans. Study after study finds huge achievement gaps between black and white students (National Center for Education Statistics). This lack of an equally high quality education leaves black students at a great disadvantage. Without an equal education, black students are unable to attend college at the rate of white Americans, to attain jobs that will support their families, and to fulfill their potential as human beings throughout the course of their lives. Indeed, the fight for high quality education is intimately linked to the civil rights struggle, and provides even more motivation and impetus for fighting for educational quality and equality.