Terry Cowgill

Sheff vs. Reality

July 13, 2007 on 1:50 pm | In Education, State |

It was a far-reaching decision when it was finally issued in 1996, but the case of Sheff vs. O’Neill still has me perplexed. Click here to read a fresh story on it in today’s Courant.

Most of us here in the Northwest Corner didn’t pay much attention to the 1989 lawsuit filed against the state alleging it was unconstitutionally responsible for maintaining racial and ethnic isolation in Hartford’s schools. The Connecticut Supreme Court ordered the legislature and the executive branch to come up with remedies, most of which the plaintiffs have found woefully inadequate.

Despite the efforts of the state in starting charter and magnet schools to attract white kids from the suburbs into Hartford, the capital city’s schools remain as segregated (and as poor) as ever: 98 percent poor and 95 percent non-white. Leaving aside whether the state’s efforts have been adequate, I wonder to what extent the whole concept of forced integration is either practical or advisable.

The underlying argument is that white schools will always get the lion’s share of resources. Integrating schools, therefore, will level the playing field and allow children of color to see how the other half lives, thus giving them a much-needed boost in life.

But I’m not convinced the problem is race. I suspect if you took a look at a predominantly white school on a dirt road in poverty-stricken West Virginia, you would see much the same thing: ill fed and poorly cared for children not learning much in classrooms with teachers who have very low expectations. Lives of crime and/or sloth lie ahead for many of those kids.

All the integration and money in the world for Hartford’s schools (or West Virgina’s) will not help when you have broken families, poor nutrition, substance abuse and a dearth of positive role models in their respective communities. It’s insulting to assume that the only way these commodities can be provided for Hartford’s children of color is to seat them next to white kids.

And on top of it all, you have the tendency of people of all colors and creeds to want to hang out with people with whom they have the most in common. There are exceptions, to be sure, but most folks are comfortable when they are with people who look and think like they do. Robins don’t hang out with sparrows. They just don’t like it. Unfortunately, humans are not much different.

Of course, no one should be forced to segregate him/herself or be discriminated against in public institutions (including the workplace) because of race, but forcing everyone to live closely together in harmony is hopeless, I fear.

I recall when I was a graduate student at Wesleyan University I ran across an African American undergraduate who belonged to an all-black fraternity. I asked him whether he would object if someone else started an all-white fraternity. His reply startled me:

“No, I wouldn’t care. I like to be with my own people.”

[Image courtesy Duke University]