Brown v. Board of Education changed the school system so that the children are no longer segregated based on race in schools. The Supreme Court declared that segregating public school students based on race is inherently against the Constitution. This ruling marked the end of racial segregation in US Education, which was established by the Plessy v. Ferguson decision (“Brown v. Board of Education”, 2021). Hence, Brown v. Board of Education has removed racial segregation from schools.
However, some of the objectives of this Supreme Court ruling are yet to be met. The highest point of the effects of this decision was in 1988, when there was a low percentage of black pupils in highly segregated schools (Hill, 2021). Black pupils have been increasingly segregated in schools in the following years, and by 2016, 40% of all black students studied in institutions with 90% of non-white students (Hill, 2021). Between 90% and 100% of non-white students attend schools where the racial composition of the student body is significantly different, despite the percentage of children of color in the student body being higher than in previous years (Hill, 2021). Hence, while the ruling had an incredible effect initially, black students are still being segregated.
Recent events can support the above-mentioned statement on segregation. The affirmative action initiative, which promotes black students in terms of education, and is essentially positive segregation, has recently come under scrutiny due to the Brown v. Board of Education rulings. The universities that support affirmative action state that Brown sought to dismantle the “racial caste system” to promote black students and establish more diverse student bodies (Liptak, 2022). The activists against affirmative action, however, state that the ruling was meant to make educational institutions “colorblind” so that university admissions are not based on race (Liptak, 2022). Hence, both groups believe that black students are being segregated, either positively or negatively.
References
Brown v. Board of Education (1954) (2021). National Archives.
Hill, J. B. (2021). Culture and conversation: Rethinking Brown v. Board of Education a postponed commitment to educational equality. Journal of Education and Learning, 10(2), 37-52.
Liptak, A. (2022). In Clash Over Affirmative Action, Both Sides Invoke Brown v. Board of Education. The New York Times.