Opposing Viewpoints: Moving Beyond the Mandates of Brown v. Board of Education Will Improve Public Schools

Juan Williams writes “Desegregation does not speak to dropout rates that hover near 50 percent for black and Hispanic high school students. It does not equip society to address the so-called achievement gap between black and white students that mocks Brown's promise of equal educational opportunity. ” (Williams) Williams believes that the affects of Brown vs. Board of Education has actually damaged the integration of blacks and whites. It has not been effective and in today’s world, educationally, white students are academically higher than black students. Most white students attend school with other white students where blacks attend with mostly blacks and other races. This not only segregates blacks and whites but it provides with the majority of blacks with a lower education. Many blacks live in low-income areas and attend low-income schools which created a bigger gap in education. This has not improved the quality of black education. It is like America has learned nothing and we still are dealing with race issues today.
Our government is not willing to look at the real issues behind the difference in levels of education. It is a sensitive topic and area and to look at the real reason being continual racial issues would be very difficult. According to Williams “And today the argument that school reform should provide equal opportunity for children, or prepare them to live in a pluralistic society, is spent. The winning argument is that better schools are needed for all children—black, white, brown and every other hue—in order to foster a competitive workforce in a global economy.” Whites currently foster a competitive work force, and there is still definitely room for improvement, but white educational systems should not improve until blacks do. The government needs to look at the mistakes that they made in the past and create a new set of rules. This rules need to provide the opportunity for blacks, whites, etc. to foster a competitive work force.
I agree with what Williams says in terms of the leading cause of public education to be the way that it is. Problems in the past with the educational system are still coming to haunt America back today. These problems need an answer. I do not agree with his answer. America needs to address this issue as a racial issue because that is what it truly is. Whether the government wants to recognize it or not, it is racial segregation. Yes, the government has made mistakes in the past for both the educational system and racism but they have no excuse to keep making these mistakes today. America has come to far to go back, but how far can America really have come if it is so easy to snap right back to racism and segregation?