Josthin Stuller

       As I read through Part III of School: The Story of American Public Education, the complexity of the "separate but equal" philosophy in education become clear as both a historical and contemporary issue. This section covers the problems and successes of the campaign for fair education, which is still important today.      The phrase "separate but equal" originated with the historic Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, which legalized racial segregation under the appearance of equality. While Brown v. Board of Education rejected this notion in 1954, its effects can still be felt in our educational system. The notion that separate educational facilities may be equal has proven to be a false premise, as indicated by persistent differences in financing, resources, and outcomes for children from various racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.     In our group talks, we looked at how "separate but equal" manifests today. We presented ...

     There is the fundamental question of how to best educate all but most specifically children, whether they be from across our foreign-born shores or home-grown on American soil, the affluent well-to-do in Montgomery County, or the impoverished poor who walk reed roads in Katanga province. American education has long wrestled with this challenge. The emphasis on standardized testing, one facet in our initial disagreement, has become just a leading factor of what success is seen to be and the other key development nonetheless, tests such as these can result in many students, particularly those from minority or language-oppressed groups, performing poorly despite having the considerable academic ability. That brings up a major question regarding education equity. However, tests are not humanizing they do not take into account the complex experiences and learning modalities of individual students.      While looking into the second argument that deals with ...