Submission Date

4-16-2008

Document Type

Paper

Department

Politics

Second Department

Sociology

Adviser

Steven Hood

Second Adviser

Mark Hudson

Committee Member

Steven Hood

Committee Member

Mark Hudson

Committee Member

Tom Gallagher

Department Chair

Paul Stern

Department Chair

Tom Gallagher

Project Description

Through examining the levels of integration in public and private schools across the United States, it is clear that the spirit of Brown v. Board of Education was never fulfilled. Students are still learning in an overwhelmingly homogeneous environment. Even in diverse neighborhoods there is a difference: the poor and minority children attend the public schools and the wealthy children attend private school. Thus, the urban public schools remain overwhelmingly minority, while private schools are overwhelmingly white. There is a clear discrepancy between black and white students in terms of size of school and quality of education.

To determine whether or not schools are truly integrated, both racially and economically, within the United States, public school districts and private schools in five metropolitan areas across the country were studied. The metropolitan areas studied were Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Seattle, and Houston. The cities studied will show the impact of white flight on public schooling, as well as how integration levels in schools that historically have had problems with segregation compares to those cities which have not instituted discriminatory policies. Together the examples of these five cities combine to illustrate the reality of race relations in the United States and how these relationships affect schooling.

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