US Education Blog

In spite of the fact that education in the US gives wide educational perspectives for students, no doubt there are some groups of Americans that have gained from it more than others. After the 1950s, government aimed to provide greater equity educational opportunity for everyone. Politicians tried to iron out discrimination in schools, which was even more important for them than educational quality. Providing equal educational opportunities to all US citizens became the first perspective for federal governments.

Racial Equality

In the 1950s race discrimination in schools was still widespread. In the South states schools for African Americans were separated from those for the whites, and this fact was confirmed officially by the Supreme Court of the United States in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). In the Northern part of the country there were no such laws, but racial discrimination was still accepted. Segregation normally meant lower levels of education for blacks throughout the country. Funding of schools for whites was higher than those for the Afro Americans. It was better to be a teacher in white schools because one could earn more, and facilities in schools were much more modern.

The illegal nature of racial discrimination in schools was proclaimed in 1954 by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. It was the starting point in getting rid of the legalized segregation system in schools. Though discriminating tendencies could not be overcome in one moment and in spite of judicial banning of segregation, most American schools still did not enroll black people.

The target of the policy that we have already mentioned was to increase educational growth among black students. But anyway educators complained of unequal chances in education for Hispanic American students. According to statistical data, in the year 1996 most Hispanic Americans went to non-white schools and schools that don’t have enough educational resources. It also means that the level of literacy for Hispanic students was lower than for whites. In the1999-2000 period 7.4 % of Hispanic students gave up school, comparing with 4.1 % for white students. Language barriers and low income also separated them from white people.