chalkbeat

A study done in 2018, shows that Memphis schools are even more segregated than they were 50 years ago. It is important to look back at history to see how the city got to this place and how White Flight played a devastating effect on our public-school system. In 2018, over half of the city’s public schools are over 90 percent African American, compared to less than 40 percent in 1971. That is ludicrous due to the fact that the 40 percent rate was the justification for judge to rule that schools needed to be desegregated in Memphis. When you add in Hispanic students over 80 percent of public schools in Memphis are seen as highly segregated. The city needs to create a system where schools cannot be so highly segregated and individuals who send their children to private school need to look at what that does to our cities public education system. When looking deeper into the issue it becomes apparent that schools in Memphis were never really actually desegregated, as white flight happened in Memphis almost as soon as the court order happened in 1971. This de facto segregation not codified in law, makes it even harder to stop as judicial orders do not really come into play. An entire generation of individuals have grown up after white flight, with a school system that has been devastated due to lost funding and less students. Having gone to White Station High School which is supposed to be one of the top public high schools and is supposed to be highly integrated, the school itself is still mostly segregated within classes. Most of the honors and AP Classes were made up of upper class white individuals, for reasons that definitely have to do with racism. I agree with Professor Mckinney’s point in the ChalkBeat article that the optional program, which was only created to keep white students in the Memphis City Schools during white flight. These schools like Maxine Smith Academy and East High School which are now all-optional force students who are not in the optional program to be displaced to other parts of the city. Professor Pohlamn also makes a good point in the article as he talks about white individuals are less likely to care about public schools in Memphis when their kids go to private school. It will take a true political and community effort to rid this city of its long time standard practice of segregation.

https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/tn/2018/03/29/memphis-school-segregation-worse-than-50-years-ago/