Introduction
When applying for school admission or enrolment in the US, people must provide information regarding their ethnic and racial backgrounds. The government uses the data it collects to monitor segregation and discriminatory practices and determine how to allocate financial aid. Some racial categories include Non-Hispanics, Hispanics, Whites, Blacks, Asians, and American Indians. Although these criteria of classifying learners to specific schools based on racial balance have been defended to ensure fairness, they have been termed discriminatory.
The Factual Background on Student Classification
Students are classified based on their races and ethnic groups, such as Hispanics, Whites, Blacks, and American Indians. One of the most remarkable US court judgments is the Board of Education v Brown case based on classifying students (Egelko, 2012). Following the ruling, the Federal government needed school boards to carry out compulsory desegregation. The directive brought about the assignment and classification of students based on their racial background so that they could comply with the orders.
The Board of Education v Brown case supported an end to racial disparities that have always existed in the education sector, leading to disenfranchising the rights of other learners. An estimated 55 percent of all public schools in the United States use an elaborate classification system to group learners on racial and ethnic backgrounds (Saito, 2020). In the landmark case of Board of Education v Brown, the court specified that separate educational institutions for Whites and Blacks created inequality and discrimination among k-12 learners.
The Legal Issues Presented by These Classifications
The classifications of the students present various legal issues. For example, the US Supreme Court dealt a heavy blow to the case in its 28th June 2007 ruling. In its order, the Supreme Court affirmed that schools could not use race as a basis for assigning learners (Berger, 2019). The court’s ruling unanimously outlawed ethnic and racial discrimination or segregation in public schools. In the issue, the court affirmed that segregated educational institutions are inherently unequal (Egelko, 2012). The decision also highlighted and exposed some of the concepts of racial or ethnic inequalities in many states across the United States. The court also unequivocally stated that states must find other ways to classify and differentiate people other than race.
The challenge of equal protection is also presented in the classifications. The racial categories bring a segregated society where some people feel oppressed and discriminated against. Therefore, the classification also promotes a divided society where some people feel superior to others. An integrated society encourages community cohesion and cannot be achieved through classifications. From a historical perspective, educational institutions have always been required to foster multiculturalism instead of promoting ethnic and racial discrimination (Ford & Patterson, 2019). Other than the Supreme Court, various lower courts have also addressed the issue of equal protection that comes about when learners are classified. The lower courts have also analyzed the constitutionality of classifications applied in admission policies in the educational sector.
Equal Protection Requirements
Equal protection requires that all persons be treated equally, and the US Constitution has a clause that prohibits discrimination based on race or ethnicity. Therefore, advocates have used the issue of equal protection to combat discriminatory government actions, policies, and laws (Galloway et al., 2019). Equal protection is a constitutional right for every citizen and is enshrined in the constitution. The Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on school disintegration has always been the basis of legal arguments in lower courts.
In recent times, the United States has made significant progress in promoting the equal protection clause of the US Constitution in support of the educational sector. The clause has provided all children with access to quality and equal educational opportunities without bias or discrimination (Saito, 2020). The Supreme Court’s ruling on Board of Education v Brown has hampered equal protection in schools by empowering segregation, provided the practice has no discriminatory intentions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, classifying to assign learners to specific schools for racial balance has bias and is also discriminatory. It is one of the best forms of segregation students face in the school system. Students are classified based on their races, such as Whites, Hispanics, Blacks, and American Indians. The classifications present many legal issues, including challenges with equal protection. In this case, equal protection requires that all people be treated equally in the education sector, irrespective of their racial background.
References
Berger, J. (2019). Challenging racist predictive policing algorithms under the Equal Protection Clause. NYU Law Review, 94(3), 1-2. Web.
Egelko, B. (2012). Supreme Court: Schools can’t use race to assign students. SFGATE. Web.
Ford, K. S., & Patterson, A. N. (2019). “Cosmetic diversity”: University websites and the transformation of race categories. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 12(2), 99–114. Web.
Galloway, M. K., Callin, P., James, S., Vimegnon, H., & McCall, L. (2019). Culturally responsive, antiracist, or anti-oppressive? How language matters for school change efforts. Equity & Excellence in Education, 52(4), 485–501. Web.
Saito, H. (2020). Equal protection for children: Toward the Childist Legal Studies. UNM Digital Repository, 50(2), 235-285. Web.