Preparation for Discussion Board One:
Watch the first 30 minutes of The Keys to the Kingdom 1974-1980 Eyes on the Prize (You can also access the video here)
Listen to this podcast from This American Life “The Problem We All Live With” (both podcast and transcript can be downloaded)
Also recommended (and required for PhD students) Read this article on Unequal Sacrifices in American Democracy
Post 1 (1 page length)
Facing history, facing ourselves
Most undergraduates do not learn much about the struggle for school integration post-Brown vs Board of Education in high school, and they are taken aback by the video of the Boston Busing Riots even though their own school histories have been powerfully shaped by the events of the 1970s. This thread invites you to talk about the ways in which your schooling has been shaped by your racial positioning in the U.S. Tell us about the racial demographics of the place you call home and the school(s) you attended (elementary, middle and high school). What accounts for the racial demographics of your home town (suburb/ city) and school? When and how did race factor into your school experiences (choice of school, curriculum decisions, college access plan, career aspirations). Do our ‘readings’ (and watchings and listenings) for this discussion board shed light on any of these experiences? [Bonus points for folks who find out whether your district is now or has ever been under a court order to desegregate. Here’s a good place to begin. See footnote in the next thread on private religious schools and race. ]
Post 2 (1 page length)
Family histories.
COLLAPSE
Much like Boston, formal school desegregation efforts in many cities across the nation, including those in N.E. Ohio, began in earnest in the mid-70s, reached a peak in the late 80s and have declined since then. This is the time when many of your parents and grandparents were either in school or making decisions about their children’s schooling. Use this thread as the impetus for learning more about this aspect of your family history. Ask family members how the move toward and away from school integration shaped their decisions about where to live and where to send their children to school (in the U.S., these decisions are interconnected). Think about how their choices were shaped by their racial and social class positioning. If your family is uncomfortable talking about race, you may need to ‘read between the lines’ of what they tell you to discern how race factors into this family history, noting the ways in which race talk is coded. Think also about the gains and sacrifices made for your parents education, noting the ways in which gains and sacrifice are racially asymmetrical (see “Examining Unequal Sacrifices in American Democracy” at https://stanfordfreedomproject.com/what-is-freedom-new-essays-fall-2015/examining-unequal-sacrifices-in-american-democracy/ ) If you are not from the U.S., talk to neighbors and friends about this aspect of their educational history. Share what you learn on this thread. (Note: religious private school enrollment grew from the late 60s for a host of reasons, including the removal of prayer and bible reading from schools, and a reaction against secularization, but there’s no doubt that school desegregation played a role. If your parents went to private school at around this time, race might still be a factor in the decision-making.)
Post 3 (1 page length)
Paradoxes of Race Talk.
COLLAPSE
In the podcast “The Problem We All Live With,” we encounter the ways in which race talk is engaged even when race isn’t explicitly named. You might have run into this kind of racial evasiveness while interviewing your families for the family histories thread. This thread invites reflection on this coyness about race amongst whitefolx (to use Bettina Love’s appellation) and some people of color too. What accounts for it? How does it feed into (and take shape from) a larger discomfort about confronting the realities of racism in our culture? This is a good thread to start to think about the current controversy over racial justice talk in schools, which is also the topic of our school policy blogs. It’s also a good thread to reflect on a key aspect of the paradox of race, which is that while race isn’t ‘real,’ racism is.
Post 4 (1 page length)
The Power of Parents.
In our assigned course material for this week, we witness some harrowing scenes involving parents working for and against school integration efforts. These scenes give us insight into parental involvement in education. This thread invites you to recount and reflect on what these scenes tell us about the fraught politics of parental influence and race in education. Reflect also on the ways in which schools navigated or capitulated to parental objections to desegregation efforts in South Boston and the Normandy school district of St Louis. Feel free to make connections between this thread and conversations with parents that you know. If you are a parent – or hope to become a parent – feel free to share your concerns about the racial politics of schooling your (future) children.
Post 5 (1 page length)
Plus ca change, plus c’est the meme chose.
As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they remain the same. How do the stories of the ongoing struggle to integrate schools in cities like Boston and St Louis reflect this epigram? What has changed? What remains the same? What does this suggest for the future of racial integration of schools in the U.S.? In light of this week’s video and podcast, is there a better way to make access to education more fair?
Post 6 (1 page length)
Who is in charge here?
In the Eyes on the Prize episode, the clip of President Ford taking issue with the Supreme Court’s decision on busing is evidence of conflict at the top. At the same time, we see the mayor of Boston urging white parents to return their children to school, and Black civic leaders urging black parents to stay the course on school integration. This thread invites reflection on the broad political context of integration and specifically, the question of what could have been done differently to bolster support for school integration efforts. What is your prognosis for resurrecting school integration efforts “from the top” today? Think nationally, but also at a state and district level. We hear a little from and about teachers in the video and podcast, so this thread is also a good place to reflect on the role that teachers played in these struggles.