The Illusion of White and Black Segregation and the 50th Anniversary of Little Rock Central High School

When someone walks down the hallways of Central High School, anyone could realize the self-segregation between whites and blacks. Although the school itself has integrated, students themselves have chosen to segregate. I especially know the pains of being white just like an African-American knows the pains of being black, but when I moved to this school, I realized this school is a lot different than the other schools I have attended.

I grew up in Colorado, and when I lived there, there were only whites. High School was simply high school, and still had many problems. There were many "categories" fellow peers gave other peers. There were jocks, geeks, nerds, cheerleaders, and bullies like every other high school. However, when I got into Central High School, there was another "category:" black and white. Now, people not only ignored you if you were friends with any "geeks" or "nerds," but they also ignored you if you were white or black. Being a kid from Colorado, I was surprised when I was surrounded by African Americans. I never experienced so many different ethnicities. The problem, however, was not experiencing other ethnicities, but it was this "category." Not only was there popular vs. unpopular, smart vs. dumb, rich vs. poor, and athletic vs. obese categories, but there was an additional "white vs. black" category.

But then another thought hit me. Some people may think this was just one thought, but it was not just "one thought." This thought was big, and it hit me like a pile of bricks. What if this white and black category was an illusion? This "white vs. black" thing is not society's racist attitudes, but is society's educational system. African Americans take regular courses, and Caucasians take the academically strenuous AP courses. This setting that has created two separate types of courses has evolved into creating two different schools. Central High has been a wonderful leader in attempting to blend African Americans with the academically strenuous AP courses, but the whites still monopolize the AP courses to a large degree. This itself has set up a segregation issue with African Americans and Caucasians. Blacks know very few whites taking their courses, and whites know very few blacks taking their courses. This principle itself has predominantly segregated the races. In their classrooms, whites tend to only meet whites, and blacks tend to only meet blacks. Therefore, the students "hang out" with their own color. Is this wrong? This is similar to what happened 50 years ago; blacks attended one school and whites attended a different school. This blacks-attend-one-school-of-regular-courses and whites-attend-the-other-school-of-AP-courses thing is the very segregation the Brown vs. Board of Education planned to get rid of. Little Rock Central High School has attempted to put African Americans in AP courses and has generally made a lot of progress. Its faculty has received numerous prestigious awards for this, but the problem is still there, and it is still thriving.

So, yes. There is a segregation problem. The segregation problem, however, is not something created by malevolent will. Students have the will to choose what courses they want to take, but so few African Americans take the AP courses that an illusion of segregation occurs. This is a problem that cannot be ignored, and when the 50th anniversary approaches, the nation will look in disbelief at the segregated hallways in this historically famous school. All I can say is that these AP courses are a problem, and they need to be fixed immediately.