The Shame of a Nation

In this article, Nathan Glazer, takes on Jonathan Kozol in his new book "The Shame Of A Nation". Kozol argues the return of a substantial degree of segregation in our urban schools. Glazer argues the use of the word segregation since "there is a difference between state-imposed separation of the races in the south and the concentration of minority students in schools outside the South". Glazer goes on and says that Kozol fails to mention why this resegregation occurred. Glazer, however, acknowledge that desegregation programs have been abandoned in many cities. The question that pushes itself is why these programs have been deserted? Glazer states that these programs may have been neglected for many reasons. For instance, it might be simply that the programs did not show any "useful effect in closing the educational gap between blacks and others". It also could be attributed to the significant decrease in white students or the increase in minority students due to immigration. It also could be due to residential segregation or the rise of the white resistance or even the decline in black demand for integration. Kozol does not provide an answer. Glazer argues that Kozol does not even provide a proof that the integration would make any difference in education. Basically Glazer is trying to demonstrate that Kozol is not worried much with academic results but he is rather concentrating on integration only. Glazer states that we should be looking more at the academic results.

I can understand Glazer point of view but I argue that I do not think when the court ruled for integration it was thinking about the academic achievement but more on the social aspect of the case. We do not integrate or separate for academic reasons but for the mere fact that there should not be a separation based on race. If students of certain race are not performing as good as others then we should try to find out why and solve the issue and not succumb to the easy way and just blame it on race. Moreover, we cannot test the academic performance by high-stake testing because that results in pressures on students, parents, teachers and administration.