Charles W. Cheng

What Is "An Equal Chance" for Minority Children?

Any exploration of what comprises an equal chance for minority children must be made within the political, social, and economic context of society. An equal chance is, essentially, a culture-bound concept, defined relative to the dominant belief system and political and economic structures. In the examination of what comprises an equal chance for minority children in the United States, fundamental characteristics of American life must be carefully considered because of their impact on the definitions of equality and on educational reform efforts in that direction. Two underlying characteristics-the unequal distribution of economic rewards and the dominance of Anglo-American cultural patterns-are clearly linked in the educational arena. First, this essay will discuss the notion of an equal chance for American minority children by considering these two basic features and the changing conceptualizations of what comprises an equal chance. Second, commonly held schooling assumptions about the functions of education in the struggle toward equality will be examined. Third, an alternative paradigm for viewing the role of schooling in American society in relationship to the attainment of equality will be discussed. Finally, an argument for the full implementation of multicultural education will be made.

Desegregation planning and educational equity

Robert G. Newby College of Education Wayne State University Detroit, Michigan To be just, the American social order must seek equity for all its people. Judged by such a standard, American public schooling is our social orders most dramatic example of inequity. The best schooling is for white middle-class children, while the worst is for black poor children. Pupil performance data of the past decade, analyzed by race and social class, does not suggest any substantial improvement in the relationship between pupil performance and school response to pupil color and social class. How well children do in school depends on how fairly or unfairly schools respond to children of differing family backgrounds. Effective instruction for the children of the poor is not now, nor does it promise soon to be, a widespread characteristic of public schooling. Thus, those of us who seek equity in our social order must seize every opportunity to improve the quality of public schooling. The discussion that follows will make every effort to be clear and consistent in using the words integration, segregation, and desegregation. We define school integration as a setting in which blacks and whites meet as institutional equals with each having equal access to the rights and privileges that characterize the school. We define school segregation as the creation and maintenance of racially separate classrooms or buildings by the use of official sanctions. We define desegregation as the attempt to eliminate racial discrimination in the assigning of pupils to classrooms or buildings. Desegregation is most often attempted by planning for racial balance, which means assigning children to classrooms and buildings in approximate proportion to the overall racial composition of the school district. Our effort to be consistent in using these key words will be somewhat confounded by the confusing nature of their use in desegregation literature. Judges, attorneys, and social scientists have tended to define these words on the basis of their attitudes toward race. It is especially confusing to note that predominantly black schools are often defined as segregated without regard to how they came to be predominantly black. We hope not to contribute to such confusion. Court-ordered desegregation is usually the greatest opportunity for reform that occurs in urban school districts. That is so because school districts like Boston and Chicago seem capable of forever failing to educate children who are poor. The politics of educational decision-making in such school districts does not require school officials to be instructionally effective for children who are poor. Candidates for city council and school board who campaign on behalf of the poor rarely get elected. Efforts at neighborhood school reform are not usually successful in ways that 12 Theory Into Practice