I argued in an Eagle editorial Thursday that it’s time for the Wichita school district to end forced busing. My reasons include:
The policy is only halfheartedly enforced; it is unfairly applied, as Hispanics and Asians are exempt, and nearly all the burden falls on African-Americans (who deserve more neighborhood school options); it hasn’t closed the achievement gap between minority and white students, which was its purpose, not social integration; and it causes families to leave the district for suburban and private schools, which costs Wichita per pupil state funding.
A number of other cities have dropped busing, including Oklahoma City and Boston. And that’s been OK with the federal government and the courts, which recognize that busing has become an outdated solution, especially when districts such as Wichita have become so much more diverse.
What do you think? Is it time to park the buses, or is forced busing still needed?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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10 Comments
I find it unneccessary. Why should a child be forced to get on the bus at 6:20 AM, and then finally get back home at 5:15 PM, all in the name of “diversity”? Definitely an outdated solution.
Birds of a feather flock together. They need not and should not hate each other, but they should not be forced to give-up thier heritage to satify somebody’s dark agenda.
Diversity is code for identity loss, loss of individuality, loss of ethnic qualities and uniqueness. Those who promote that sort of thing, in my day, were known as communists. A proven failed ideology. It doesn’t work for the good and has destroyed the Dallas School District.
The arguments for it failed. The results stand as stark witness.
What is the annual cost of busing in the district, and what % is this of the overall district budget?
Waitaminute!ED, why are you picking on Dallas? I Like Dallas! The school district here may be screwed, but it’s not destroyed.\?!?!?
Hammer, Perturbing a new found ally was not my intent new friend. DISD does not educate, but rather house children. My Dad was educated in the New York. He graduated with the equivalent of a Masters Degree in College today, from that high-school.
If you and I tried to reach his school today, carrying our choice of automatic weapons with belts of ammo laid over our shoulders, we would never get there alive.
With all the killing that day, and I’m sure you would do your share, I doubt we could even make it to bleed-out on its steps.
It started with “busing.”
Ed, no offence taken. I think that’s the case with most schools. I graduated high school a looonnng time ago (a small-town Kansas high school, by the way), and I got a solid education.
I hire people now. I’m constantly amazed at what young people with diplomas and degrees don’t know. I find the most fertile minds seem to be over 40, with exceptions of course. I stopped at a convenience store the other day and spent $8 and change. The cash register was messed up; some cute young thing, early 20s, couldn’t make change from a $10. Now that’s sad.
Busing is an issue who’s time has passed, especially in a town like Wichita. For all the bigotry that exists in Kansas, I don’t think Racial is much of an issue. Remember back in the 60’s when we brought the Army’s 1st Division Big Red 1) back from Germany to Ft Riley? One of the main reasons the 1st was brought to Kansas was because there were so many mixed marriages. Kansas was considered a safe haven. I’ve had some dealings with schools in Wichita in the very recient past. I don’t think “diversity” is a major problem. (that’s just an opinion)
I think the way the system is set up now is very biased. My son’s school is one of the schools that are subject to busing. His school is probably much more naturally integrated than many of the other schools in the more upscale neighborhoods. Why does the school board think there are so many private schools in Wichita? Many people don’t want to deal with the possibility. My son was picked for busing in 1st grade. Granted the school he would have been bused to is supposed to be excellent, can you image a 6 year old getting on a bus at 6:30 and getting home at 5:00. That is quite a long day for any child. We were able to get him deferred because of some adjustment and behavior problems he was having at the time. The cost of this program is riduculous. They pick so many kids knowing they are going to defer about half. Think of the time, energy and money that could be better spent on actually educating our children. I think if African American students want to go to a different school, allow them. But don’t force anyone out of their own neighborhoods. It is an outdated program and needs to be revised.
Busing for integration is one thing, and worth discussing. That discussion will likely have to involve the courts that first imposed the busing mandates.
But a lot of the busing in Wichita Public Schools is done for safety and for magnet schools and special ed programs. Even if we completely stopped forced busing of students for integration purposes, I bet we’d still have at least half the buses running.
Twenty five years ago the Ft. Worth School District was discovered by an outsider that it was embezzling millions in the repair shop for the buses.
The corruption was just as real as were the reasons for the busing itself: “Somebody’s dark agenda.”
“Integration” and its nasty un-American twin ” diversity” have twisted disguising roots. It’s sure not about education.
Americans make-up their minds how they wish to think and Government was never designed to think for them. As soon as Government no sooner starts, the very underpinnings of freedom begin to corrode. Those who advocate “collective thought or action” are the enemies of freedom.
Freedom isn’t free and those who can’t stand the heat should seek a warmer climate.
Zionist Israel doesn’t “integrate” or adhere to “diversity,” they just wish and act all that on us.
I’ve never been subjected to forced busing, nor have my children. I grew up & was educated in small town Kansas as were my children so I speak only editorially, but to me, forcing a child onto a bus, transporting that youngster out of their neighborhood all because some biased individuals can’t determine a more equitable system to align and balance educational needs & finances of all schools within the system is a patch, not a fix of the problem. If there still exits a dire need to integrate the schools for racial diversity, shouldn’t the community as a whole be studying a less compulsive method of bringing cultures together? After all, if you are forcing some and not all are you not being prejudice yourself by the very act?