Frank's Musings

Making Schools Work The reason that desegregation has not been the solution to unequal academic achievement by white and minority children is that its goal is social justice, not intellectual excellence. In the nearly 60 years since Brown vs. Board of Education the world, against which we measure American academic achievement, has become flat, in Thomas Friedman’s analogy. One factor that has allowed students in other countries to out-master the U.S. in science, mathematics, and other subject matter may be the absence of the confusing objective that Americans have imposed on their education system—creating a fair and equitable society out of a racially and economically diverse population. There certainly have been advantages that America has reaped from its diversity—among them a rich record of technological and artistic innovation. Academic achievement may not be the uniform goal of parents and students in selecting which school to attend. It’s not surprising that Professor David L. Kirp (in his Sunday Review article in the NYT of May 20, 2012) puts that criterion at the top of his considerations in assessing school desirability for minority kids. In fact, it may not be the primary objective of those children or their parents. We can pursue only one of two very different educational strategies. Either public school systems exist in order to permit students to compete in academic specialties with their counterparts in other countries on the shrinking globe, or they exist in order to achieve a well-organized and life-challenging environment in which a diverse society will thrive.