Today's SCOTUS Decision re: public school diversity considerations

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Kevin

The goal of diversity in itself seems a bit odd to begin with. What exactly is the goal here?

Personally, my goal is for my kids to be exposed to and learn to get along with and respect people who are different from them, whatever kind of differences they may be. I think that's a pretty necessary life skill, unless one plans to live somewhere like Iceland.

From an administrator's standpoint, there is also the goal that a good mix of students helps raise standards for everyone.

It seems to me that there are plenty of non-racial methods which could be used to achieve diversity. For example, if a school district's goal is diversity, they could admit based on a student's socioeconomic background, their neighborhood, etc.

That's exactly the kind of thing I was thinking of. Many school districts do this by limiting the percentage of free/reduced lunch students per school. Many disticts have also successfully used magnet schools to "lure" students from the suburbs and more affluent neighborhoods to the less affluent ones. My kids are at a magnet school rather than our "neighborhood" school, as are many of the neighborhood kids (different schools), because we chose it (and got in -- the magnets are very competative).

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

. . . but until the city's residents stop segregating themselves by neighborhood, diversity will not happen.

And that was my point. It's not SCOTUS or its opinions that will be bringing about any segregation in Seattle -- it will be the school administration's and/or the community's unwillingness to find other ways to avoid desegregation.

[PeppyGPhiB]

And I'll just say again that I agree with the ruling by the Court. Open enrollment in a district is great, but only if kids get "first dibs" on spots in their neighborhood school. I think kids should be able to go to school down the street if they want to. I also think it saves the schools money in the long run, because they won't have to bus kids all over (though I'm not sure if the Seattle schools have been using buses for high schools anyway...they might use public bus).

Anyway, I think the Seattle School District has been using racial diversity as a way of distracting people from the issues of why some of its schools aren't performing better, and now with things more clear, they won't have any choice but to face the problems and try to solve them. That's a good thing.

[Rudey]

Personally, I prefer the segregation in Europe more than the segregation in America. How about you guys?

-Rudey