Racial Segregation: The Underlying Problem of the Achievement Gap
The bonds of American slavery still haunt our country to this day. America is plagued by racial divides and inequity that creep throughout the school systems and neighborhoods and into politics and the media. While we, as a country, place much effort on eliminating all racial tensions, we cannot begin to wipe out the repercussions of decades of enslavement.
I firmly believe that racial inequity and segregation is the underlying cause of the achievement gap in this country. Statistics do not lie. The majority of children that drop out of school and commit crimes are minorities. In the past few years of working with children in the Athens-Clarke County neighborhoods, I have come to learn that race means far more than colors of skin; instead, each race is a different culture, with distinct ways of socially interacting, engaging in the community, and viewing the world.
Yet a nation with this wealth of cultures cannot succeed unless we learn to empathize with different cultures. That is exactly where I believe we, as a country, have failed.
I chose to make this small website because I wanted to explore segregation and the history of race in this country. I have included a few important, historical Supreme Court cases, as well as a number of ways in which segregation still affects children today. While this website hardly scratches the surface of the perplexities of American segregation, I hope it makes people think, question, and yearn to understand other races.
-- Anna Konieczny
I firmly believe that racial inequity and segregation is the underlying cause of the achievement gap in this country. Statistics do not lie. The majority of children that drop out of school and commit crimes are minorities. In the past few years of working with children in the Athens-Clarke County neighborhoods, I have come to learn that race means far more than colors of skin; instead, each race is a different culture, with distinct ways of socially interacting, engaging in the community, and viewing the world.
Yet a nation with this wealth of cultures cannot succeed unless we learn to empathize with different cultures. That is exactly where I believe we, as a country, have failed.
I chose to make this small website because I wanted to explore segregation and the history of race in this country. I have included a few important, historical Supreme Court cases, as well as a number of ways in which segregation still affects children today. While this website hardly scratches the surface of the perplexities of American segregation, I hope it makes people think, question, and yearn to understand other races.
-- Anna Konieczny