Racial Segregation in New York Schools Starts With Pre-K
Elizabeth A. Harris, a writer for the New York Times, argues in her article that racial segregation in schools start with pre-kindergarten. Harris discusses how this is primarily based on the fact that many pre-kindergarten programs appear in areas where they can offer their services to the local community. However, in spite of this clear racial segregation, there is an understanding that “racial diversity needs to be built into the application process” of pre-kindergartens, where segregation in schools begins to stem from. Having diversity in schools not only improves the learning of nearly all students involved, but also exposes them at a young age “to be accepting and tolerant of each other.” This connects to our current studies on civil rights and the continued segregation in schools throughout the country.
Questions to consider:
1. How can you relate this article to the topic of affirmative action?
2. Why is fixing racial segregation in pre kindergarten programs possibly considered more important than in high school or college environments?
3. What does having a universal application process do? Why is that significant/important, especially for early learning centers?
I believe that fixing racial segregation in pre-kindergarten programs is more important than in High School and college environments because kids are much more impressionable. It is very easy to affect a Childs opinion compared to an adults and it is therefor very important to teach children.
ReplyDeleteHigh school cannot be discredited in such a situation. Even if segregation is fixed in pre-k systems, it doesn't mean minorities will continue to have high quality education. Even though the child's racially derived tendiencies will be reduced, education quality in the long-term will not improve.
DeleteAdding on to Nick's point, exposure to kids of different background causes kids to be accepting of different cultural practices and religious views. Therefore once the get older, they have an actual understanding of others and don't blindly follow the stereotypes that are ingrained in our society. Only then will they be able to change the images of other cultures societally
DeleteIt's important that racial diversity occurs in pre-kindergarten. At young ages, children should be exposed to other cultures to allow them to appreciate how other cultures can offer different and valuable perspectives. By the time people are in high school or college, the negative impacts to school segregation can be imbedded into individuals.
ReplyDeletePrograms such as Head Start have already acknowledged that it is important to give young children an equal education. Individuals need to be provided with a great education from the onset of their lives, or else they will be too far behind their more wealthy peers. In the podcast about two schools, I learned that scholarship students from poor families are extremely likely to drop out of college despite the incredible opportunity they have been given. This is because although they are very intelligent people, they do not yet know how to study or partake in rigorous courses. Correcting social ills and attempting to equalize people through affirmative action later in life is not as effective as doing so early on.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely important to identify the the environments in which children can be influenced. For obvious reasons, young children are more impressionable than older ones. It is important to promote racial diversity in pre-kindergarten educational environments because it will directly address the root of the problem by reaching out to young children.
ReplyDeleteStarting students off early to be accepting of others is a smart way to progressively bring change to end segregation in schooling. This is due to the fact that later in schooling, students already grow a mindset in which segregation may be already be ingrained, which thus makes it harder to alter such views to positively accept diversity. In this case, it would make sense to make diversity a norm and in essence change the social norms in racial schooling by starting the trend early in a student's career.
ReplyDeleteThis article depicts a very prevalent issue in that many parents assume their children are colorblind to race. According to Psychology Today, "a study done by Bar-Haim and colleagues in 2006, showed that growing up in a multi-racial environment versus a mono-racial one produced differences in race-based responding in children only 3-months of age!" Seeing this, it is of the utmost importance to instill these affirmative action programs at a young age to ensure that we are creating an accepting society.
ReplyDeleteFixing racial segregation in pre-k can be considered more important because racial views are developed at an early age and by fixing racial segregation in pre-k we can teach kids to be more open to other races. By teaching kids at a young age to be more accepting of races and by limiting the gap between the races in education we will not have to be as worried about the students in high school and college.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alex. I think that if racial bias, stereotypes and segregation is fixed at a young age, then a lot of it won't be seen as much in the future. If we don't expose young children to racism they won't be as likely to be racist when they are older. As much as it seems like we don't remember much of when we were young, the things that were taught to us most of the time stick with us for the rest of our life.
DeletePart of the issue is that the majority of pre-kindergarden schools are very close to their students' residences. Therefore, the racial segregation that occurs is a result of the neighborhood race segregation as opposed to the school itself. While I believe there should be more diversity in our lower education, there are limitations to what the government, community, or school can do to fix there. However, there is still opportunity to offer a more equal distribution of school funding that will aid predominantly minority schools.
ReplyDeleteThe issues start in pre-kindergarten, because often times, child care is paid for by the parents since there isn't state mandated child care available. Those who have more money to pay for better child care already place their children at an advantageous level. Often times, in the early ages, parents also entrust their children to programs near their homes for convenience which furthers the racial divides.
ReplyDeleteChildren are most impacted by what they are taught at a young age. Therefore, creating racial divides in a pre-kindergarten setting will lead to a racial prejudice later in life. Racism is a learned practice, which was best demonstrated by the outrage surrounding the busing in Boston. While it is great to promote integration at any age, young children are most impressionable, meaning that to end segregation, it must stop from below.
ReplyDeleteThe reason de facto segregation is addressed at the kindergarten/pre-K level is that if segregation issues are resolved at an early age, it's viewed as less likely for them to return. If the desegregation occurs at the high school level, some of the damage of the segregation will have already been done. In this way, desegregating early on is a proactive measure against segregation later.
ReplyDeleteFixing segregation is more important in preschool and kindergarten than in high school because this is where students have their first experience with learning. Often times, how they do in these early years will determine their path in the future. If already in these first grades there is low quality education for certain groups in society, then those students aren't being set up for a future of success in their later lives. If, however, they receive proper education when they're young, these students will be able to remain committed and successful even through unfavorable high school conditions.
ReplyDelete