School busing is it worthwhile?

Au1929:

Hi! I believe the point of busing was integration, not necessarily the improvement of education. As a youth, I grew up in upper middle class America. No Blacks, no Hispanics, just pure white wondefulness with great schools and plenty of everything. So I was never affected by busing.

I do know, that after I got older, and saw the crap schools that people of color attended, and the crap neighborhoods they lived in, and the crap they had to put up with whites, I had to question myself. I was stunned by the total unfairness of how the whites got the best of everything, while the blacks got crap no matter how hard they tried, or how hard they worked.

I think busing was an attempt to level the playing field some, and I endorse the concept of leveling the playing field.

Anon

busing for children
One of the absolute foundations of the United States is that all people are created equal and that the Constitution is color blind. To pick anyone for busing based on their race and sex is absolutely wrong and unconstitutional. The only solution is for each state to take over it's schools and fund them from property taxes and distribute the money based on need and test scores. This way every child gets what they need in a way that no other system can come close to providing. I told my children all thru their childhood that if any form were to ask them their race or sex they were to provide as an answer that they were "mixed" and as for their sex, that blank would be left blank. To this day, the Veteran's representative at state job banks insists on knowing your race before they will help. I refused to answer and they refused to help me, a veteran.

The money spent on bussing would IMO be better spent upgrading the schools. As for the neighborhoods people live in. From what I have seen in many instances the people make the neighborhood. I have seen perfectly good neighborhoods go to hell.

Busing here is used to allow parents to send their kids to schools all over town - or to get away with not making sure kids get to school safely themselves - nothing to do with integration. It makes me furious. A total waste of my tax dollar.

I think he was referring to forced busing there bethie! lol

IMO, the original intent was a grand idea. As with so many things the problem lies with the actual implementation. It's one of those things that went from "This has to be done in some situations" to "this is a good idea in most situations" even though it wasn't.

A few serious drawbacks - it doesn't go to the root of the problem. Instead of bussing kids around to better schools (and some to worse schools) the problem within the existing school system was never solved. Bussing children to another school does not improve the education level of the students that still attend said school.

The other issue is the shift to private education. If the parents can afford it, children in the better school systems are sent off to relgious, charter, or private schools. Not only does this work against 'intergration' but it also removes adults from the issues in the system in their community.

If vouchers are ever given to sudsidize children that go to private school, well, I'm not really in favor of that either. The bottom line is that it still takes away focus from overhauling and improving the current system that everyone's taxes pay for. Bussing was for intergration, but not the answer some people were looking for to improve public schooling.

It's also a little weird not being able to go to school with the other kids in your neighborhood. Johnny around the corner and could be in a totally different district. That might not seem like a big deal to you and me, but it's a big deal to a 7 year old boy who has to fit in with a new group of kids from a neighborhood 10 miles away.

Think!
If you think it would be a good topic, go right ahead and post it. I would suggest you also add something about poor and lawless neighborhoods and why they are just that.

AU:

You made a statement that was a perfect example of cause and effect ...


POOR and LAWLESS !!!

Think ... about it!!


Anon

POOR and LAWLESS !!!
Is not cause and effect it is just an excuse.

AU1929:

An excuse ? Only to a closed mind.

Anon

I could be nasty and say that another bleeding heart liberal has joined the fold. But I won't

AU:

Deal with it! You know where I have always stood!

Anon

Anon
Is this my friend anon. Why the new moniker? I afraid you pushed one of my buttons. I am frankly tired of hearing people justifying, muggings, rape, murder and etc on poverty. It is an excuse not a reason.

[]
USA > Economy
from the May 19, 2003 edition

In promising trend, US poor exit high-poverty areas

The 1990s boom altered map of poverty, boosting opportunities for many.

By Abraham McLaughlin and Anne E. Stein

CHICAGO – During the 1970s and '80s, America's poorest citizens lived ever more isolated lives. They were increasingly shunted into ghettoized neighborhoods where basic necessities, like good grocery stores and decent schools, were further and further out of reach. The 1990s began to change that. The decade-long economic boom - along with welfare reform and other shifts - helped spur some 2.5 million people to leave poor neighborhoods and begin to connect with the economic and social mainstream, a study released Monday finds.

Story :
http://csmonitor.com/2003/0519/p01s04-usec.html

AU:

Of course it's me ya old fart!

When I was in real estate, broth real estate broker, and investor, I spent ten years rehabbing old buildings in Oakland and trying to make a difference in poor areas. Provide decent housing, help with a bad situation and hope to make it better. It ended when an eight year old black child was shot in a crossfirs on one of my properties. He bled to death in my arms. I got drunk, and woke up three years later. I know how it is in these areas, and it's not just an excuse Au, trust me!

Anon

Anon
Nice to see you decided to come and join the fray. I have no doubt that what you say happens. However, my experiences are on the other side of the coin. I have seen good neighborhoods get destroyed here in NY City not because the physical plants were deficient but because of the people themselves. I have seen schools that I attended go from places of learning to places of chaos. When I say seen I mean personally. It's the people and let me qualify that, only a very small percentage but that is all it takes when the rest tolerate it or excuse it.