So, when you think of segregation, what part of the country do you think of? Alabama? Mississippi? Surely somewhere in the deep south.
Try San Francisco.
That's right, my hometown, which loves to extoll itself as the most progressive and liberal city on earth, is resegregating at an alarming rate. What is happening?
My theory is that it's all well and good to talk about desegregating other people's children, but when it comes right down to it, parents want their own kids to go to the "best" schools that they can possibly get into. The "best" schools are usually defined as those with the best test scores, which (surprise!) tend to be those with the biggest proportion of white and asian students (at least in SF).
The progressive-ness of San Francisco has led to a highly-educated, politically-savvy, upper class that is hard pressed not to use their education and political clout to get their kids into the "good" schools. The school district has chosen for years to bow to the pressure of the powerful at the expense of the poor and politically powerless.
San Francisco is like those people who were radical in the 60's but joined the establishment, became invested in the status quo, and now are conformed to an unjust system while still liking to reminisce about the old days and think of themselves as still being radical. We think of ourselves as being in the vanguard of the fight for the vulnerable, but we're invested in the system now, and we'll sell out the poor if it means a better resume for our kids. We used to be reviled for the danger we posed to the powers that be. Now we ought to be despised for our hypocrisy.
- "They call me MISTER Tibbs!"
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
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2 comments:
In The Heat Of The Night
I actually have several really close friends who went to Monta Vista.
It's slightly less ironic when you consider that whites are a minority because of the large number of Asian (primarily Chinese) students there, and most of these kids are ABCs (American Born Chinese) whose parents are University educated and work in the high-tech industries of Silicon Valley. There are similar demographics at Lowell High School in San Francisco... a lot of it just has to do with the disproportionately high (compared to the US in general) number of Asians in the Bay Area. In the San Francisco Unified School District for example, less than 10% of the students are white, while more than 30% are Chinese.
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