Kozol–9

In chapter 9, Kozol (or rather Orfield) finally offers some hope and a possible solution to the severe segregation in U.S. schools. Most of the results that Orfield offers from inter- and intra-system bussing are very different from those Kozol offered earlier in the book. I suppose that could go along the lines of what Orfield offers at the end of the chapter, “If you start with the hardest cases in the country, you’re not going to come up with the right answers”. Although to counter this, while the case in Milwaukee was not as severe as New York, it is not exactly a minor problem there, nor is it a small city, but there has been extreme success there. Not only does Milwaukee participate in transfers from more segregated schools to suburban schools, they have successfully created magnet programs in the more segregated areas. Two of my cousins were bussed a quite a distance to attend a magnet program for the arts in such a school. I think if the federal and local government could come up with more money for such programs, they could prove rather successful, based on Orfield’s experience. It is a shame that there are so many people who want to participate in these programs but can’t due to lack of funds. I think it is very sad that rather that increasing funds for an educational program that has proven to be successful, funds are being cut, thus discouraging these programs to continue; there is only so much that can be done at the local level without outside funds.