Going Public: Literacy and History of American Education

Part four of the textbook provided several different ideas and opinions regarding the public education system from the 1980s through today. The public education system in the United States had undergone several significant changes throughout the mid-20th century. Federal mandates required schools to be integrated and desegregated. Schools could no longer discriminate based on gender or orientation. Public education systems were also now required to provide adequate means and accommodations for students who are physically or mentally disabled. However, there were still many challenges still to face. Perhaps one of the largest challenges faced by public education systems was the “white flight” of wealthy and middle-class white families. The white flight describes the movement of upper- and middle-class white families from inner city urban environments that were largely integrated to the suburbs. Poor and lower-class families, typically minority based, were not able to afford to move to ...

Part 3 of the textbook focuses on the time period from the 1950’s through the 1970’s and 1980’s. The book explains how dangerous it was for minority children to receive a quality education. Prior to 1954, schools were legally segregated under the guise of “separate but equal.” As it turned out, the segregated schools were the exact opposite, separate and unequal. White children received more opportunities and resources than minority children. Minority children often had to walk past white schools on their way to their assigned segregated school. In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case Brown vs. Board of Education in Topeka Kansas. The Brown vs. Board of Education case ruled that segregation was illegal and schools had to be desegregated. Although schools were legally desegregated minority children, disabled children, and female students were still not receiving the same opportunities as white English-speaking male children. President Lydon B. Johnson recognized the import...