Racial Segregation

Educational segregation has changed immensely overtime. In the 1950's school were separated by race which left a lot of students uneducated or undereducated. White schools were dominate and had quite a bit more funding available to them which helped them create a better education for students. It took many years to change over schools to stop discrimination and start accepting students regardless of skin color. This opened more opportunities for better education in all different cultural backgrounds. A very under publicized issue is Mendez V. Wesminster case from O.C. California. Mendez was trying to enroll her kids and her sister's kids into elementary school. At this time only lighter skinned kids of the family could register at the 17th Street School in Westminster. The darker skinned kids needed to register at a different school down the road. Mendez sued the school system and "On March 18, 1946, Judge Paul J. McCormick ruled that the "segregation prevalent in the defendant school districts foster

antagonisms in the children and suggest inferiority among them where none exists" and that the equal protection clause had been violated." (Zonkel)

I feel as though schools now are still segregated just not necessarily by race. Segregation has now come to financial status. If parents do not have enough income they may be only able to send their kids to a public school even if they prefer a private school. If parents have a low income they typical will not live in an area that has high quality schooling available. Such as comparing education from a Detroit public school to a Rochester Hills public school. The two schools have different amounts of income available to them for books and supplies to teach students. Without the correct materials available the student's education will be out of date to today's standards as the world evolves.

Part II

1) Detroit: 86.7

2) Los Angeles: 70.5

3) San Antonio, TX: 55.5

4) Chicago: 83.6

Of the 4 towns above Texas is the most integrated. They have a wide mix of different races throughout the town. Los Angeles also is integrated fairly well compared to the other towns. They do not have the mix San Antonio does but they are closer to the dissimilarity standard of 65. Detroit and Chicago are highly segregated. Chicago has a high percentage of whites living in the city and Detroit has a high percentage of blacks living in the city. These two indexes make the areas highly segregated.