The Supreme Court in Session: Hears School Segregation Arguments

In the past few weeks, the United States Supreme Court has been hearing arguments which challenge the legality of affirmative action programs in public school systems. As America continues to become one of the most racially diverse countries in the world, the realization that public school classrooms in America continue to stay segregated 52 years after the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education has finally begun to sink in.

Those in support of affirmative action believe that such programs in the public school system are necessary for maintaining racial balance and fighting off effects of segregated housing and poverty. Those against such "racial quotas" argue that the Constitution of the United States mandates a colorblind approach to race, or, that programs granting special privileges because of race are just as illegal as those withholding privileges on the same grounds.

The current cases before the Supreme Court regarding race in public schools come from Seattle and Louisville, KY. Programs in both school districts aim to produce racial integration for educational benefits for all students. The programs in both school districts are under fire for being unconstitutional. The Bush administration has come out against such programs, and these cases represent what's left of Brown v. Board of Education.

The issue of race in schools as related to the growing divide between the rich and the poor (or, the white and the black) in America is emotional and heated. Most people would agree that preventing a child from attending a certain school based on their race is wrong, which is exactly what the Supreme Court found during Brown v. Board of Education. Then, the court ruled that admission to public school must be decided on a non-racial basis.