Check out Sunday’s Opinion page for opposing viewpoints on whether to end mandated school busing in USD 259. We argue in our editorial that Wichita’s busing policy is outdated, ineffective, unfair and lacks public support. But local NAACP president Kevin Myles, in a thoughtful op-ed commentary, reframes the debate as really about whether to reintroduce segregated schools. He writes about the limitations and reduced dreams he accepted growing up in a segregated neighborhood and schools. He has seen his own children break out of that box. And he asks, "Which part of their expanded worldview should I accept as expendable? And how would their isolation increase their choices?"
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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13 Comments
I firmly believe in the local school.I thank God I missed being bused when it started. But having witnessed the trauma it caused and the sense of destruction it made. Imagine being suddenly transported to an alien world when you are a child.
The stated intent of busing was to give equal chances to all children. Rather then remodel or build better schools in the Black community. But that was the real intent. At the time that buses was thought up. Schools in the Black community were like what is said of Oklahoma: “God made it, God damn it and God forgot about it!”. The schools were build, the schools were not supported by the school district, then the school district forgot about them.
Does busing give children a chance to get to know other of a different race? Yes, but not in a favorable way. Again, the child is on a planet they are not familar with. Surrounded by those that seem to speak a different language. That look different then all the friends they have ever known. Against their choice and without their agreement.
They will adapted, they will make friends of a sort.But they will always be an alien on this planet.To make thing more complicated now that child get to go back to the world they live in. Children, more then adults bonned more through shared experence. Your friends as a child are made from school and the community they live in. The child has spent their day at a school in another community. Then the rest of their day is spent in another community. The bons build during the day are gone, the bons build during the rest of the day are gone during school. And the distance between each is so great that they may never meet.
Busing was a bad idea and should have never been done. It was an adult idea that effected children and was done for all the wrong reasons.
Like it or not, the answer is NO … do not end forced busing in the near future. According to Wichita USD 259’s own statistics, only about 12% of school busing is for purposes of desegregation.
The other 78% is for busing students who live more than 2.5 miles from their assigned school, for busing special education students, for busing students who choose special school programs, for busing students who would otherwise walk through hazardous traffic situations, etc.
So, at the most, school busing might be reduced by 12% for desegregation purposes.
Wichita school students are a mix of Caucasion, Hispanic, African-American, Orientals from many different countries around the world, American Indians, and even students from California.
As an occasional substitute teacher, its my observation that the various cultures do get along much better today than in the “old days.”
I believe most Wichita citizens agree that part of education is gaining experience in associating with all cultures. This is an absolute necessity in participating in college, military and the working world. So it would be unwise to return to any semblance of one-culture schools.
The mix of cultures is changing in Wichita with arrival of many hispanic young people so this change in demographics must be factored into the situation.
Now, it might be possible to reduce some busing for all the above reasons by somehow providing more school space in a given neighborhood whether by building a new school or adding a new wing to an existing school or shifting usage of existing schools. This needs to be studied by interested community members with assistance of USD 259 staff with final decision of the school board.
But for immediate future, I believe school busing must continue until viable options can be found to continue providing a multi-cultural mix in Wichita’s schools.
I have heard from adminstrative people in USD 259 that the miles traveled by their schools buses would circumnavigate the earth on equater level 7 and one half times. That is a fair amount of driving. And a considerable cost.
The questions I have: is the cost worth it, is it the schools’ function to make societal changes, isn’t there a place for parental responsibility for getting their kids to school for those who can afford it? I don’t know the answers, but busing seems like a very costly and unpopular program.
Very well said, JWink. Kids have to live in the real world, that might as well start at school. It’s important that different races, religions, etc. learn how to live together. This is America, not South Africa.
I see what they are saying. Since segregation in our society is defacto (by choice and not law), then it is difficult to have a truely mixed race school. With the Asian and White flight out into the suburbs, and the Blacks and Hispanics continue to isolate themselves, it is no wonder that the original remidy set by the courts to help desegregate society has not been helped by forced busing.
Although I do think the school district did a brilliant decision by making the schools that were prodomently black or hispanic into Magnet Schools to attract whites and asians on their own.
I believe this could be enough. Forced busing is too expensive.
Segregated neighborhoods and schools? I believe Keven Myles needs to look a little more in depth before spouting off such nonsense.
If there is indeed segregation in neighborhoods, it is purely by choice, and the schools reflect that population mix. There are federal/state laws that ensure people can live anywhere they want. So, if one neighborhood is predominantly black, that is by free choice.
Are we to continue spending untold thousands to try to overcome peoples’ free choice of neighborhoods? No. It is time to end this nonsense.
There are a couple points that didn’t fit into the piece that I wrote, that I would like to mention to those who are interested… I’d like to initially remind everyone that the purpose of busing (and the basis for the Brown vs the Board lawsuit) was not to close the achievement gap; but it was to address inequities in resources and facilities. It was argued that children were being denied equal oportunity because of the inequities in the system. The Supreme Court acknowledged that the very reason for separation was a societal belief, support, and acceptance of disparity and inequality. Therefore they ruled that Separate was not and would never be equal. In so doing, they overturned the earlier verdict of Plessy vs Fergussen (separate but equal).
But that said, there were certainly larger goals and aspirations later ascribed to Brown v Board and busing as a mechanism. Now, as to whether or not busing has acheived its goals (original or ascribed), people almost universally say “no”. In fact, that “was” my position not very long ago. However, before making any public statements on the issue, I did some “homework” and I must admit, the data I found surprised me.
But, rather than tell everyone else what I think they should believe about the effectiveness of the program, or whether or not its outlived its usefulness; I’d like to share with you all a few of the data sources I found informative and useful.
Harvard University conducted a multi-year study on deseg trends throughout the US; particularly since districts have been allowed to dismantle their deseg prgrams. The data is available online at http://www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu
Stanford University has conducted a similar study which can be found at http://www.hoover.org/publications/books/fulltext/colorline/219.pdf
The Washburn Law Journal published a article comapring Plessy and Brown and examining current Court Standards. Available at: http://www.washburnlaw.edu/wlj/40-1/articles/stra.pdfAnd there’s also a book, recently released entitled “Shame of the Nation” by Johnathan Kozol.
brgds/Kevin
Forced busing should absolutely be put to an end. It serves absolutely no purpose other than angering parents.
Kevin Myles: I read your guest remarks in the Sunday EAGLE. Thanks for your followup today.
However, I disagree with you on the goal of Brown vs Topeka Board of Education. You might or might not know that another school in Kansas was previously considered for the Supreme Court test case back in the early 1950’s. That was the South Park School, then a new, brick, all-white school in Merriam, Kansas. The nearby wooden black school was still standing when I last checked, was being used as a small church and is marked with a historical marker. An interesting coincidence is the woman who wanted to take that case to the Supreme Court was also named Brown, perhaps Esther Brown.
The problem with the South Park location was the white school was structurally much better than the nearby black school.
Then the school in Topeka on east Sixth Street was chosen because this all black school was structurally better than the nearby all white school.
This situation was better because the Supreme Court wanted to say that segregation itself was the problem, not relative condition of the school buildings.
Now as America becomes more and more multi-cultural, we can see how correct the “Brown” ruling was back in 1954. As I mentioned above, all races in America must learn to live and work together in our institutions, schools, military and employment. That is the standard that America offers to the world. I suspect you will reply there is still a long way to go. You also might disagree with my analysis … if so, please say so.
Kevin,
If you’re still following this thread, I’d like to thank you.
I didn’t weight in not because of the lack of opinion, but because of uncertainty. I spent three years as a white kid in North Tulsa in the early seventies (a.k.a., should I even say it?) but you know what? Somebody turned it into a good school. In Tulsa. I don’t know how, or why.
Then I attended a school in a small, white, racist little town. Stupidity ruled.
I don’t knows the answers, but I voted to continue the program when I received my survey. I hope at least I know the questions.
Just dont send your kids to public schools. Private schools all the way. That might send the message that parents will not put up with it anymore.
Ann–
Thank you for not sending your kids to public schools.
The tragic yet sadly predictable segeway from a conversation about integration and education, into name calling and anger is why the Supreme Court ruled as they did in Brown. Separate can never be equal if the basis for the separation is a belief in inequality.Our housing patterns are not accidental. We as adults ‘choose’ to separate. But why? When I was a young man growing up in Cleveland, I believed that I had nothing what-so-ever in common with non-Blacks. However, the fact that I and many of my friends believed that didn’t make it true. We equated “other” with different or lesser. Not because there was any basis in truth to that assumption, but because we didn’t know any better.Ultimately, we may not win this arguement. There may just be too much passion and too much history there to overcome in a few short months of discussion. But I have to try. I don’t claim to have all the answers; in fact I’ll clearly state that I do not, but somehow, someway, we’ve got to break this cycle… I don’t want “my” ignorance to become my legacy.
Kevin