Juan Williams begs the busing question
I shouldn’t have to think this hard, and it makes me suspicious.
Juan Williams begs the question in his analysis of “Little Rock 50 years later.” He laments Supreme Court decisions that reigned in busing and housing patterns have led to de facto segregation, decades after de jure discrimination was stomped out. Then comes what to me looks like sleight of hand:
This trend toward isolation of poor and minority students has consequences — half of black and Latino students now drop out of high school.
Integrated schools benefit students, especially minorities. Research on the long-term outcomes of black and Latino students attending integrated schools indicates that those students “complete more years of education, earn higher degrees and major in more varied occupations than graduates of all-black schools.”
The question begged is cause or effect. Are the home environment of the integrated families who are already doing better economically and socially themselves the real variable? Is it the superior facilities or instruction that makes the difference? Or is it integration per se — simply being around white people — that improves life chances?
Williams’ blanket statement cries out for qualification. I suspect that the research has been done and the answers are not to his liking. Otherwise I wouldn’t have to think this hard about his claim.
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