I went to school with both Eli and Sean at Garfield. Interesting that neither mentions the extreme segregation in their own school (blacks on the 1st floor, whites second and annex, blacks in regular, whites in honors/AP). It didn't feel like an integrated school - in fact that was a defining and disturbing memory and one of the few negatives of a wonderful experience. They (being kids in AP) had to know what it get like for a black student to look in an AP history classroom and see a sea of white and the opposite in a regular cloisters class next door. Yet it's described as a utopia. Borderline dishonest.
I went to a Magnet Arts school created to avoid busing (sp? Bussing? neither look right), although I rode a bus every day.
Unlike Garfield, it was fully integrated (i.e. race-blind casting in school plays, Black kids in Calculus class) and a pretty great experience overall.
I too would like to echo #4's comment about segregation in bussed schools. Ingraham High in the early 90s during bussing was definitely the most diverse environment I'd ever been in as a north-end white boy, and I made some great friends that crossed color lines that I may have not made otherwise. But for the most part, what wound up happening was that people grouped up by race or neighborhood. Bussing did little to nothing to break down those barriers...in fact, it often made them worse. The students that bussed up north didn't participate in after school activities as much because of the commute. Tensions between groups were high. Bussing seemed to emphasize those differences rather than mediate them.
I absolutely value the exposure to people that had different cultural contexts than my own, and feel like I did learn a lot from it. I wouldn't be who I am today if not for that system. But it really wasn't great. It was pretty crappy for a lot of people, and emphasized differences more than it broke down barriers.
I would much rather see more work done to diversify neighborhoods. We need to make the city affordable and accessible to all, everywhere. That is how these colorlines will break down and become easier to cross; if we actually LIVE with each other, are neighbors and close enough to be real friends and companions in life, THAT is when we'll see more positive change. Shipping kids around the city and wasting hours of their lives DID NOT work. Solving the real problem is where the focus should be, not putting a retroactive band-aid on it.
Also, I would argue that, as a current SPS teacher, the diversity of the city HAS changed for the better already. Ingraham is not as diverse as it was in 1991, but it IS a diverse school and the north end is much more diverse demographically than it ever was at that time. There is a predominance of white folks for sure, but there is a lot more people of color and a lot more culture represented in the current student body than one would think.
Unlike Garfield, it was fully integrated (i.e. race-blind casting in school plays, Black kids in Calculus class) and a pretty great experience overall.
I absolutely value the exposure to people that had different cultural contexts than my own, and feel like I did learn a lot from it. I wouldn't be who I am today if not for that system. But it really wasn't great. It was pretty crappy for a lot of people, and emphasized differences more than it broke down barriers.
I would much rather see more work done to diversify neighborhoods. We need to make the city affordable and accessible to all, everywhere. That is how these colorlines will break down and become easier to cross; if we actually LIVE with each other, are neighbors and close enough to be real friends and companions in life, THAT is when we'll see more positive change. Shipping kids around the city and wasting hours of their lives DID NOT work. Solving the real problem is where the focus should be, not putting a retroactive band-aid on it.
Also, I would argue that, as a current SPS teacher, the diversity of the city HAS changed for the better already. Ingraham is not as diverse as it was in 1991, but it IS a diverse school and the north end is much more diverse demographically than it ever was at that time. There is a predominance of white folks for sure, but there is a lot more people of color and a lot more culture represented in the current student body than one would think.