Earlier I published a post titled "Wake County Protesters, You Picked the Wrong Battle." I criticized the NAACP and other community leaders for protesting against the end of the diversity policy in Wake County schools. It was hard for me to be up in arms about what's going on in Wake when I've taught in a racially segregated school for the past 5 years. I found it to be a little hypocritical for me to be upset.
But on second thought, what's going on in Wake is a tragedy. Anytime you blatantly say you want to end a diversity policy--not make revisions, adjustments, nor improvements--but end it, it looks really bad and racist. If the diversity policy is taken away, it will create schools for the haves and the have nots. It will create difficult learning environments for the have nots because more complex social issues will be overly represented, teacher turn-over rates will probably be higher, and the current academic progress will probably take a turn for the worse.
However, I do think changes need to be made to the diversity policy; some of the opposers' arguments are valid. The hour long bus rides and the constant switching of schools to balance the population are two of the biggest issues that I hear the most. I live in Southeast Raleigh, and the students who live in my neighborhood are supposed to attend Apex High School. They have to ride past Southeast East Raleigh HS, which is walking distance from us, everyday to head to Apex. I guess diversity comes with a cost.
All in all, taking away the integration plan is going backwards rather than forwards. The benefits of the policy do outweigh the costs. C'mon Wake County. I really need you to get it together.
