Does School Integration Work?

• Author: FARKAS, STEVE
• Position: Most parents believe that school integration is beneficial, but they worry about the distractions it might bring

Parents Speak Out

A majority of blacks and whites "believe that efforts to integrate have distracted the schools from what should be their number-one priority--academic achievement."

BLACK AND WHITE PARENTS say integration is valuable, but, on closer examination, fears emerge. While both groups believe integrated schools improve race relations and enhance their children's ability to thrive in a diverse world, they are wary of associated costs: that schools will be distracted from academics, bitter disputes will emerge, and their offspring will end up paying the price. Whites worry that integration will bring troubled kids into local schools; blacks fear their children will be thrown into hostile and contentious school environments. Most parents want integration to occur naturally and are optimistic that things can improve. Ironically, relatively few have direct experience with efforts to achieve school integration.

African-American and white parents see great value in having their offspring attend integrated schools. When polled, about 80% of black and 66% of white parents say it is very or somewhat important.

They value integrated schools because they believe their children and the country as a whole will be better able to handle the diversity of today's society. Nearly all parents agree that "our country is very diverse and kids need to learn to get along with people from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds" (97% of both races). Large majorities (84% of blacks and 77% of whites) feel integrated schools will help improve race relations in America. Both groups say, "It was absolutely wrong to have segregation" (64% of black and 71% of white parents).

"Integration is positive and productive and does yield well-balanced children," maintains a black parent in Raleigh, N.C. "In the ideal situation, you have all the children interacting and learning together. So the majority develops a tolerance for the minority--ideally." Parents also believe integrated schools could bring concrete benefits: 86% of black and 74% of white parents say integration would mean a better chance that all kids will have good schools.

With the conspicuous exception of busing, policies intended to achieve integration draw support from clear majorities of both African -American and white parents. For example, 60% of black and 59% of white parents favor achieving integration through magnet schools that "attract high-achieving white kids to mostly black schools by offering talented and gifted programs." Meanwhile, 69% of black and 60% of white parents favor "redrawing district lines to combine mostly black and mostly white districts into one district."

Given the support parents express for integration, its advocates might feel justified in pointing to politics and changes in judicial appointments to explain what many view as a nationwide retrenchment of...