Affirmative Action in K-12 education.
Tomorrow's topic is affirmative action. The Grutter case (in the reading tomorrow) describes the Supreme Court's interpretation of what role race may play at a higher education level (in terms of admissions). However, the issue of affirmative action is still being highly debated at lower levels of education.
The Supreme Court has agreed to soon hear a case (this year) out of Seattle, Washington involving affirmative action decisions in K-12 public education (something new and unique). The Seattle School District is allowing families to choose and apply for high schools in the district that they wish to attend. However, the district is using race as one part of a tiebreaker to assign children to high schools when there are not enough spots for all applicants to attend one particular school.
The Seattle School District is citing the Grutter case (from our assigned reading) as justification for such an affirmative action policy. Here is a link to announcement of the Supreme Court's decision to hear the case: http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/06/05/scotus.schools.race/index.html.
Before we discuss this highly debated issue tomorrow in class, does anyone have any insight on their initial reaction to the pending case?
The Supreme Court has agreed to soon hear a case (this year) out of Seattle, Washington involving affirmative action decisions in K-12 public education (something new and unique). The Seattle School District is allowing families to choose and apply for high schools in the district that they wish to attend. However, the district is using race as one part of a tiebreaker to assign children to high schools when there are not enough spots for all applicants to attend one particular school.
The Seattle School District is citing the Grutter case (from our assigned reading) as justification for such an affirmative action policy. Here is a link to announcement of the Supreme Court's decision to hear the case: http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/06/05/scotus.schools.race/index.html.
Before we discuss this highly debated issue tomorrow in class, does anyone have any insight on their initial reaction to the pending case?
posted by Eric Mumm at
10:27 PM
2 Comments:
First of all, I do not understand why a K-12 school needs to have an application process unless it is private. It seems that this district just wants some media attention. As cited in the Grutter case, the goal of affirmative action is to no longer use race as an admission credential. Why can't this school eliminate race now? In the Grutter case it was stated that it might be another 25 years before race can be eliminated. 25 YEARS??? In order to provoke change there must be a vision that seems outlandish. Let's make this change NOW!!! I find it hard to believe that a diverse group of students cannot be found without using race a a selection criterion.
I totally agree with what Ryan just stated. Why is there even an application process needed if this is a public school corporation? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of public vs. private. I also think that the less fortunate families will be hurt by this no matter what race they are, thus defeating the whole purpose because with these choices and applications needed prices of attending these high schools will increase and therefore leading right back to not diversifying the makeup of that school.
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