Separate but equal? Let's not go there again...

Re-segregation in Charlotte, North California? Despite what Michelle Obama has been saying about Charlotte's warm, forward-thinking ambiance in a recent story powered by NPR and the Root, the situation in Charlotte's school districts seems to be reaching a critical point with respect to socioeconomic and race relations.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District eliminated a busing program in 2002, a system that normally ensured that kids from low-income, more "troubled" areas of the city got transportation to a more competitive school in a different part of town. The program was aimed at encouraging diversity. Now, North Carolina is apparently encouraging the separation of poor and rich students, which usually translates to a separation based on race. Most recently in 2011, the Wake County School District in North Carolina has said "no to the social engineers!" - abolishing a re-integration policy that gave students access to schools regardless of their socioeconomic status. Students are being increasingly shuffled into neighborhood schools as school politics encourage the poor kids to stay with the other poor kids. In our world today, this usually means that students who are minorities are clustered together, while the more wealthy school districts grow increasingly white.

Let's say it like it is. Psychologist Beverly Tatum's book on racial identity, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, now has a new answer to the question posed by the provocative title. Why, Beverly? Because our school districts said so.

Hopefully though, that's not the final answer, as the 2012 Democratic National Convention will be held in no other city but Charlotte, North Carolina. Let's expect more dialogue on these issues and the institution of more busing programs in the South, as well as other parts of the United States. After all, what do kids really need in a classroom? To be exposed to the world as it is and learn to appreciate cultural diversity or none of the above?

Continue this conversation with us at the Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit on February 23, 2011 in San Francisco. Vicki Abeles, director of Race to Nowhere, will be making an appearance as guest speaker, along with Dennis Littky, co-founder of the charter school network Big Picture Learning, and Farb Nivi, founder of the test-prep company Grockit. All proceeds will go to fund free personalized tutoring for students in the Bay Area's low-income school districts.