i never experienced this when i was in school because....well....i lived in the wildnerness and there was no where else for us to go.

but...i am not so sure that i would want my child to have to get up early, go to school across town or wherever, for the sake of adding a few black kids to the roster.

until the neighborhoods desegregate, the schools won't.
the neighborhoods won't desegregate unless more minorites obtain higher paying jobs
the schools won't get better unless the property taxes that pay for them increase.
the property values won't increase unless the people owning the property start making a little more money

so...isn't busing the band-aid on the gunshot wound?

_____________
"We haven't gotten freedom for Leonard Peltier yet. Maybe he's not Marc Rich enough." - Robbie Robertson when presenting the first Grammy for Native American music

>so...isn't busing the band-aid on the
>gunshot wound?

In more than one way. Busing only within the city limits forces those people who have chosen to remain in an integrated municipality to incur the bulk of the dificulty. Until schools are seperated from municipal boundaries and all children within a particular state can attend all public schools within that state, any school reform will be a band-aid. Schools are one of the leading causes of suburban flight.

Elite municipalities are formed by wealthy elites who then restrict the movement of all others into their enclave. There are some school districts that ctually hire private investigators to follow children home and expel the children if they don't reside in the district. All because the parent wanted a better education for his/ her children. Yet, all public schools receive massive amounts of state funding. Does this seem logical or right???

JMello

"Those of us who spent time in the agricultural sector and in the heartland, we understand how unfair the death penalty is - the death tax is."

"Si, I'm very concerned about the amount of acreage in cultivation for the growth of cocoa leaves."

"...it's about past 7 here, so we're actually in different timelines."

"I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but my predecessors, as well. And that's why I made the decision."

"I'm about to name my brother the ambassador to Chad."

"They don't seem to be flocking in right now, but it is dove season in Texas. I'm a hunter and if I decide to shoot some dove, I'll shoot 'em and eat 'em."

--President-Select George W. Bush--

I am from a very diverse neighborhood in Philly (Olney), and I was bussed 45 minutes into Northeast Philly for middle school. The only reason this happened was because my local middle school was overcrowded so they started bussing everyone to the far northeast where there was space for students. however, I am white and I was one of only a handful of white kids being bussed (most were black and asian). if i could have chosen, i would have gone to my neighborhood school. that hour and a half roundtrip commute was a bitch when i was 13 years old! BUT, the middle school i attended was in a 99% white neighborhood with a student population more along the lines of 50% White, 40% Black, and 10% Asian. Thus, although bussing was a temporary solution to solve overcrowding, i think it was positive because there was a high level of integration at my school, and this was good because there was interaction between everyone. now brand new schools are being built to accomodate the burgeoning population of the hood. the point is: bussing isn't that bad, but it is not a long-term solution- replacing dilapidated Philly public school infrastructure is. peace!

-J

257 like whoa

-----------------------------------
i flip the flip for the flip
call me a flip flipper
than flip flop in my flip flops wit strip strippers

I don't really care too much for forced integration.

Black parents in Philadelphia send their children to white schools for a better education. This bothers me tremendously. Why would you send your child to a racist enviroment and why aren't you questioning the fact that your school is inferior to their school. For each child bussed, the receiving school receives money and the school that child would have attended losses even more funding. I think all schools should receive equal funding, poor children can't help the fact that they are poor, why should their education be sub par. But that is how the cycle of poverty is kept in place.

Shit happens

i was bused from my 'model' multi-racial community to a high school that sat plumb in the middle of an upper-middle class neighborhood. the school was 40% jewish, 13% black, 20% caucasian, about 7% hispanic, etc. kids drove beemers and late model hondas. my family is working, working middle class, and so this was nothing shocking. high school was the bomb because of the diversity. if i hadn't attended this high school i don't think i would've gotten into Howard because of its national ranking. it was also cool because i had the opportunity to educate some extremely backwards-thinking southern white folks (teachers included)on a daily basis. my class started the first african-american studies elective, protested (signs, bullhorns) when miami's mayor snubbed nelson mandela's visit, and basically caught wreckage. they've recently built a high school in our neighborhood. i was worried because i thought kids would miss out on the experience i had. but, my brother-in-law is the band director there and he says its state-of-the-art and the students are doing well.

i don't support segregated schools because that's not the way it is in the world. but, if given the same facilities and tools as their majority-white counterparts i can't knock it.

if that's not how the world is segregated, then how come you were bussed ? The world unfortunately is very segregated. I just don't like the fact that blacks need to be shipped out of their neighborhoods to receive a good education.How come the schools aren't equal.


You probably would have gotten into to Howard with good SAT score, excellent grades and extra curricula activities. Most colleges use these criteria's to select their students not the school you went to.


I was accepted to an Ivy League university , plenty of state schools with scholarships , a historically black university and a small Catholic college and I went to my neighborhood high school.

Shit happens

>if that's not how the world
>is segregated, then how come
>you were bussed ?

because there was no high school in my neigborhood. so, my situation is an anomaly.



The
>world unfortunately is very segregated.
>I just don't like the
>fact that blacks need to
>be shipped out of their
>neighborhoods to receive a good
>education.How come the schools aren't
>equal.

The world is not as segregated as we think. I guarantee you that you will come in contact with someone not black by the end of the day. Schools are not equal because school boards base their allocation of funds on the tax payers' dollars in any particular school's district.

>You probably would have gotten into
>to Howard with good SAT
>score, excellent grades and extra
>curricula activities. Most colleges use
>these criteria's to select their
>students not the school you
>went to.

Not true. Colleges DO look at an applicant's high schools as well. They determine whether or not a high school's curriculum meets their standards for college prep. And i don't support the SAT which is a test based on class and status. The ACT was much more universal.

I met alot of culture ignorance, but no hatred or hostility. The kids I went to school with held beliefs that were taught to them by their families. If we and other non-whites had not attended that school who knows what kind of ignorance we all would have carried into adulthood. And for the record, this education by way of peers went both ways. I had my own issues that i had to deal with (ex:White ppl don't smell funny, it's their DOGS)<---wry sarcasm. I think this is the point of desegregation that gets lost in debate. Nobody's saying to assimilate and forget ones history. But let's face it. We're stuck on this planet together for the rest of our lives. Middle and high schools are the perfect place to get to understand and respect each others cultures and differences. What you do after that is your business.

In Charlotte Mecklenburg schools, busing was issued about thirty years ago in the Swann court case. Just recently the case was reopened and Judge Potter cancelled the ruling, making the segregation illegal.
Now, I live in a white neighborhood, and go to a majority white school. Most of the other black kids are bussed in, so when they finalize the ruling, I will probably even more in the minority.
________________________________________________________________________________
~My Mom's Jamaican, My Pop's American, I guess I'm Jamerican~

~NEVER try to cut your own hair~

"I'm a star, but I'd rather be a comet by far"
-Andre 3000

"Nelly Furtado is FINE!"
-Me
http://www.nellyfurtado.com

> In Charlotte Mecklenburg schools,
>busing was issued about thirty
>years ago in the Swann
>court case

Charlotte-Mecklenburg is an exception. Long ago the city and county school systems merged. This may seem superficial, but it actually means that the suburban kids are attending the same system and receiving the same funding as the inner-city (not that there is such a thing in Charlotte) kids. This is the exception because in most Eastern cities each municipality runs its own school system, leading to drastic differences in funding on either side of the city line.


JMello

"Those of us who spent time in the agricultural sector and in the heartland, we understand how unfair the death penalty is - the death tax is."

"Si, I'm very concerned about the amount of acreage in cultivation for the growth of cocoa leaves."

"...it's about past 7 here, so we're actually in different timelines."

"I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but my predecessors, as well. And that's why I made the decision."

"I'm about to name my brother the ambassador to Chad."

"They don't seem to be flocking in right now, but it is dove season in Texas. I'm a hunter and if I decide to shoot some dove, I'll shoot 'em and eat 'em."

--President-Select George W. Bush--

But there are still schools in the west part of Charlotte that are in a majory negro populated area. Here it is the exact opposite of my situation, white kids are being bussed over there, and THEY are the minority. Sorta flips it a 'lil.
I attend Providence High school, which reflects the area that it is located in. It is located in the affluent Southeast section of the city. Every other car in the lot is a Cherokee, a lexus, os a beamer. What I am saying is no matter what they do with the situation, it still will be the same. This case Probably won't be resolved for another two years or so.

________________________________________________________________________________
~My Mom's Jamaican, My Pop's American, I guess I'm Jamerican~

~NEVER try to cut your own hair~

"I'm a star, but I'd rather be a comet by far"
-Andre 3000

"Nelly Furtado is FINE!"
-Me
http://www.nellyfurtado.com

I don't believe in forced integration. I don't believe in integration period. I believe that children should be taught by people that look like them and that can relate to them. Black boys will become Black men and therefore should be tought by black men. This holds true for all genders and races etc. After years of problems with public school we tried charter school.The same problems exist. We have now decided to home school. I don't believe that the qulity of education my children recieve should be left up to any district or boundries. The education of my children is my resonsibility.

"I don't believe in forced integration. I don't believe in integration period. I believe that children should be taught by people that look like them and that can relate to them. Black boys will become Black men and therefore should be tought by black men. This holds true for all genders and races etc. "

what about interaction with others? learning through over peoples differences? knowing about more than your own culture? personally i do not want to send my child to a school where its' student body is all one race- i think that promotes unilateral thought and a closeminded attitude.

-----------------------------------
i flip the flip for the flip
call me a flip flipper
than flip flop in my flip flops wit strip strippers

Really?

I think sending a child into an enviroment where they would receive hostile treatment from other children is crazy.

If you live in an integrated neighborhood that's fine and dandy, but if you don't there's a reason. You live in Philly. There was a cross burned on a black family's frontyard a few years ago. There are plenty of schools in Philly where there are a good mix and friendliness, Central , Girls High etc and shit my first day at Central we had a race sensitivity assembly.

Shit happens

yeah i know what you're sayin.... i guess my personal experience is a little abnormal. i am a white kid from a mixed neighborhood who was bussed for middle school with other black kids to all white neighborhood. that shit is rare. and then i went to Central where i experienced a lot of openness and acceptance between races. i would not advocate bussing when their is hostile treatment from others.

-----------------------------------
i flip the flip for the flip
call me a flip flipper
than flip flop in my flip flops wit strip strippers

Everyone should read this again--few can say it better.

>until the neighborhoods desegregate, the schools
>won't.
>the neighborhoods won't desegregate unless more
>minorites obtain higher paying jobs
>
>the schools won't get better unless
>the property taxes that pay
>for them increase.
>the property values won't increase unless
>the people owning the property
>start making a little more
>money

The only problem is, people who make money don't tend to come back to the old neighborhood. Either they move to a ritzier place, or they gentrify the hell out of where they live. And poor people are always going to be forced to live together, so as long as we're on a property tax system those people will be fucked.

Which is why we need to get off the property tax system--it's one of the most discrimiatory things we have left. Moving to a system of state taxation and distribution of funds, under current civil rights laws, would neccessitate that poor districts get the same amount of money as rich districts. And there actually is a good chance of doing so. Michigan moved to a state-level income and sales tax to fund schools in 1994, and polls in most states show people don't care if some of the school tax burden is shifted to the state level

----
bshelly: a boorish cur of a man, significant only in that his pettiness and vindictiveness are examples of how not to live

"bshelly = black shelly. he pretends to be white so he can get over at his institution of higher learning. once he graduates, TADA!! the white face comes off. " --fire

You like rock and roll, yet you have never heard of the Replacements, the greatest rock band of the eighties. If Paul McCartney got violated by Sid Vicious, the Replacements would be the offspring. Please buy a copy of their most exceptional work, "Let It Be," or download the song "Unsatisfied" from Napster. You can thank me later.

----
bshelly

"You (Fisher) could get fired, Les Snead could get fired, Kevin Demoff could get fired, but I will always be Eric Dickerson.” (c) The God

>The only problem is, people who
>make money don't tend to
>come back to the old
>neighborhood. Either they move
>to a ritzier place, or
>they gentrify the hell out
>of where they live.
>And poor people are always
>going to be forced to
>live together, so as long
>as we're on a property
>tax system those people will
>be fucked.

My point exactly.

>
>Which is why we need to
>get off the property tax
>system--it's one of the most
>discrimiatory things we have left.

A uniform state property tax with revenue distributed to schools based on enrollment numbers and full school choice within the state would also fix the problem.

> Moving to a system
>of state taxation and distribution
>of funds, under current civil
>rights laws, would neccessitate that
>poor districts get the same
>amount of money as rich
>districts.

You would still need unlimited public school choise for the parents, to break down the isolation of the inner-city and elite suburbs.

>And there actually
>is a good chance of
>doing so. Michigan moved
>to a state-level income and
>sales tax to fund schools
>in 1994, and polls in
>most states show people don't
>care if some of the
>school tax burden is shifted
>to the state level

Yeah, as long as they can continue to prohibit outsiders from using their schools. Plus, a lot of suburban towns would just use local taxes to boost the state contribution and still spend more than urban areas.


JMello

"Those of us who spent time in the agricultural sector and in the heartland, we understand how unfair the death penalty is - the death tax is."

"Si, I'm very concerned about the amount of acreage in cultivation for the growth of cocoa leaves."

"...it's about past 7 here, so we're actually in different timelines."

"I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but my predecessors, as well. And that's why I made the decision."

"I'm about to name my brother the ambassador to Chad."

"They don't seem to be flocking in right now, but it is dove season in Texas. I'm a hunter and if I decide to shoot some dove, I'll shoot 'em and eat 'em."

--President-Select George W. Bush--

-----
bshelly: a boorish cur of a man, significant only in that his pettiness and vindictiveness are examples of how not to live

Hating Kobe Bryant since he schooled me in high school.

You like rock and roll, yet you have never heard of the Replacements, the greatest rock band of the eighties. If Paul McCartney got violated by Sid Vicious, the Replacements would be the offspring. Please buy a copy of their most exceptional work, "Let It Be," or download the song "Unsatisfied" from Napster. You can thank me later.

----
bshelly

"You (Fisher) could get fired, Les Snead could get fired, Kevin Demoff could get fired, but I will always be Eric Dickerson.” (c) The God

i was bused and wouldn't have it any other way. i grew up on the west side of chicago and there wasnt't a school within 20 miles that i'd send my kids too. my parents felt the same way and my mother taught at a school 4 blocks away from where we lived. sure we should make schools in the hood better but im not sendin my child to a shit school while we are waiting for them to become so.
________________________________________
-knead dough?? hit us up at-www.makindatbread.com
-representin the real since tuesday
-illified illustrated.word.fresh.

**if u want lewis taylor cd's go to www.amazon.co.uk ---not the regular amazon because they charge 30bucks a cd...ukamazon charged me like 23pounds all together which coverts to less than $35bucks.

I live in L.A and most of the inner city schools here are sad. We're having a huge problem right now with a lot of students not having books, desks, or chairs. The tests (SAT, etc) are improving but the conditions in our urban schools aren't. so that leaves a lot of students unable to compete. I don't see the problem with busing. I'd like my child to attend a multi-ethnic school but never a school populated by 90% of one race.
True, the education of our children is our responsibility but some parents aren't equipped to teach and can't teach everything a child gets from attending school with other children. By homeschooling, I feel that the child misses out on a lot. I agree with jideff215:"personally i do not want to send my child to a school where its' student body is all one race- i think that promotes unilateral thought and a closeminded attitude." You can't protect children from real life. They will encounter racism at some point in their lives. Prepare them for it. DOnt' shield them from it. It can't be done. I find that racism exists in my son's 90% black school. And sadly its black against black racism. A lot of the teachers at inner city schools stereotype their students as young as 6 years old. Appalling ain't it? Not to mention the classes are overcrowded so most of the kids don't get the attention they need. AND, the school board usually hires anyone to teach our kids (it's easy to become a teacher nowadays. and you may be surprised at how many teachers don't know the first thing about teaching).

y'all *really* think" that you're tricking somebody into something don't you? what you don't realize is that most women decide within the first 5 minutes of meeting a dude whether or not they'll sleep with him. all your "game" is merely entertainment. - H

it's easier to get a job teaching than it isto get a job at the post office doing anything.
________________________________________
-knead dough?? hit us up at-www.makindatbread.com
-representin the real since tuesday
-illified illustrated.word.fresh.

*get Lewis Taylor cd's here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000006TEI/o/qid=983465806/sr=8-2/026-0085729-5341211

much cheaper than the regular amazon (they charge $30 bucks) you'll pay 12pounds here which converts to less than $15 bucks.

When it's 1 black household for every 6 house holds, the white flight kicks in.

It doesn't exist.

k. orr

http://breddanansi.tumblr.com/

I have to agree, when my sisters went to the same high school I graduated from last year in 1990-94, there were about 20-40 black students, now the school is about 80% black, w/ only other races left being orthodox jews who don't want to move away from their temple, chaldeans, and white people who either were too involved in the community to want to leave, or didn't have enough money



*********
You know why I don't have time for you?

Because I only have one lifetime to change the world, and there's not enough time in the world for me to change your life. - Me, keepin it really real since 1982

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

8% minority residence and more 'white' families retreat to higher ground....
i think i read somewhere that it usually takes 8%.
also...i think i got this from a class. a survey asked white people what the percentage was for afr-am population...
replies were like 40%+....

i think it's around 11% in real life.

"goodness, edward, they're everywhere!"


_____________
"We haven't gotten freedom for Leonard Peltier yet. Maybe he's not Marc Rich enough." - Robbie Robertson when presenting the first Grammy for Native American music

>8% minority residence and more 'white'
>families retreat to higher ground....

Not 8% minority, eight percent black.

>i think i read somewhere that
>it usually takes 8%.
>also...i think i got this from
>a class.

They also have done surveys with blacks, and most wanted a neighborhood that was 50% black and 50% white.
Of course whites would never let that happen, without fleeing to the burbs.

>a survey asked
>white people what the percentage
>was for afr-am population...
>replies were like 40%+....
>
>i think it's around 11% in
>real life.

12-13%



JMello

"Those of us who spent time in the agricultural sector and in the heartland, we understand how unfair the death penalty is - the death tax is."

"Si, I'm very concerned about the amount of acreage in cultivation for the growth of cocoa leaves."

"...it's about past 7 here, so we're actually in different timelines."

"I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but my predecessors, as well. And that's why I made the decision."

"I'm about to name my brother the ambassador to Chad."

"They don't seem to be flocking in right now, but it is dove season in Texas. I'm a hunter and if I decide to shoot some dove, I'll shoot 'em and eat 'em."

--President-Select George W. Bush--

>
>They also have done surveys with
>blacks, and most wanted a
>neighborhood that was 50% black
>and 50% white.
>Of course whites would never let
>that happen, without fleeing to
>the burbs.

read: deeper into the burbs...come to d.c. or outside chicago, new york, any big city...we deep in the burbs, white folks just move deeper...why? i really don't know but i wanna say it's cause they own the farm land and undeveloped areas and can cater to their own people...kinda like the good ole boy network, if you know only whites or your clients are only whites and you're a realtor then when it comes time for the fleeing whites to move, you put them in the best home available at a reasonable price, usually where there are no blacks and usually with higher property values. that's my deduction on the reasoning as to why we haven't fully desegregated but it's kinda simple cause i'm not really sure.

America has imported more warlord theocracy from Afghanistan than it has exported democracy.

What alot of schools fail to do when desgregation programs occurr is bring about a higher level of student achievement. Diversity is not good when those students you brought in to diversify are all in special educ. or are performing subpar in classes and standardized tests. When this happens, the white parents do not want their children to be affiliated with it because they feel it will diminish the slectivity of choices for the next level of education (most notably college). If a school can diversify and maintain it's academic excellence and thorough resources, then the white flight will not occurr.




little.
*************************************
http://members.blackplanet.com/GrumpyBear/
*************************************

________________________________________
Grump
http://twitter.com/Gator_Bell

you been reading the series in the n&o? interesting. i'm focused on writing more on educational issues this year.

as for the topic, the real issue is neighborhood segregation, as has been pointed out. the issues under that are economic disparities, as well as growth/zoning issues. diversity is a laudable goal, but the question is "at what cost?".

black kids having to ride the bus at 6am in the morning (as some do in my neighborhood) to go ethnically enrich some super-suburban school is ridiculous. it puts the kids at a disadvantage, from participation in afterschool activities, if they have jobs, etc.

plus, the white flight never stops because of the growth/zoning issues. if developers keep moving further and further away from the cities, and they are not charged for the additional infrastructure that they make necessary (which will add cost to the homes and on some levels disincent people from a mass exodus), the 'burbs will continue to expand.

the schools aren't consulted or considered in the housing growth and then after the fact, they have to build new schools to fit all of these folks who showed up in the middle of nowhere. then someone notices that the new schools are not diverse, and they make up for it by busing kids from the black (don't know if they do this to latinos yet, but that will be an issue soon).

what's even more insulting is the concept behind "magnet" schools, where they make this wonderful curriculum with all types of special stuff to it to attract white kids back to predominantly black/latino (minority makes no sense in this context) schools. would they make all that special stuff just for the benefit of the black/latino kids if they were there by themselves? nope. and from some teachers i've talked to (in the magnet schools) they are still segregated, with mostly white kids in the advanced or enriched classes (plus a couple bright local kids who catch extra hell from their peers), and the majority of the 'base population' in regular classes or special ed. what purpose does that serve?

the issues are mad complicated and i think that people get confused with busing and integration which was a means, not necessarily an end of the civil rights movement (our leaders got it twisted too, so you can't just blame the gubmint). the original problem was that separate and equal was separate and unequal, and still is. if there are available populations and the remedy does not place too much hardship on the kids being bused, (maybe a 30 min ride, tops), then hooray for diversity. but we're ignoring the deeper realities if we think that the schools, with their limited resources, can overcome deeply ingrained economic and housing segregation patterns via infinite busing.


peace & blessings,

x.

peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

yeah...i usualy pick up the sunday N&O...for the coupons and it takes me all week to read it.

and i read the article sunday.

_____________
"We haven't gotten freedom for Leonard Peltier yet. Maybe he's not Marc Rich enough." - Robbie Robertson when presenting the first Grammy for Native American music

>
>black kids having to ride the
>bus at 6am in the
>morning (as some do in
>my neighborhood) to go ethnically
>enrich some super-suburban school is
>ridiculous. it puts the kids
>at a disadvantage, from participation
>in afterschool activities, if they
>have jobs, etc.

i used to tutor at heritage park downtown...
and then i wasn't really up on the busing deal.
the kids told me that they had to ride from downtown raleigh to go to school in west cary. they said that they don't like going over there.

i can mix italian and ranch salad dressings and put them in my salad. doesn't mean it's going to be good. (in fact i bet that's quite nasty.)

what a bad analogy. sorry about that, kiddies.

>
>
>
>what's even more insulting is the
>concept behind "magnet" schools, where
>they make this wonderful curriculum
>with all types of special
>stuff to it to attract
>white kids back to predominantly
>black/latino (minority makes no sense
>in this context) schools. would
>they make all that special
>stuff just for the benefit
>of the black/latino kids if
>they were there by themselves?
>nope. and from some teachers
>i've talked to (in the
>magnet schools) they are still
>segregated, with mostly white kids
>in the advanced or enriched
>classes (plus a couple bright
>local kids who catch extra
>hell from their peers), and
>the majority of the 'base
>population' in regular classes or
>special ed. what purpose does
>that serve?
>

okp kayci and i had this discussion...
where she enlightening me about SouthEast Raleigh and Washington GT...Ligon...etc
these magnet schools in minority neighborhoods...
but they bus the kids that live there away to other schools...
so it may be good PR to put these advanced schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods...but it's not serving anyone in that neighborhood in if you send the kids somewhere else...

re: they are still
>segregated, with mostly white kids
>in the advanced or enriched
>classes (plus a couple bright
>local kids who catch extra
>hell from their peers)

we've got to teach our kids that being smart is cool too. black doesn't equal dumb.



_____________
"We haven't gotten freedom for Leonard Peltier yet. Maybe he's not Marc Rich enough." - Robbie Robertson when presenting the first Grammy for Native American music

>until the neighborhoods desegregate, the schools
>won't.
>the neighborhoods won't desegregate unless more
>minorites obtain higher paying jobs
>
>the schools won't get better unless
>the property taxes that pay
>for them increase.
>the property values won't increase unless
>the people owning the property
>start making a little more
>money
>
>so...isn't busing the band-aid on the
>gunshot wound?

I actually don't have anything to say on the busing issue. But you're speaking some true words in the part I quoted above.

Question is: How do we work towards this in an effective way?

Arrange to live in a neighborhood with quality schools
or take steps to ensure you can pay for private education (scholarships, loans, etc.)

Assuming a quality education for your children is the desired goal, if your children have the option of going to a better school than they would otherwise, why NOT bus them? I would.

AIM: nichet00

"Even when I say nothing, it's a brilliant use of negative space" El-P


Raeshika: i bought slum used today
Raeshika: returned it 3 hrs later.
nichet00: ha ha
nichet00: that should go in my sig
nichet00: putting it in now

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It's kinda funny, all this talk about busing. I was only bused to one school in my entire life, and that was for intermediate school (Grades 5-6). I lived in an upper middle class neighborhood that was about 95% black, and all the schools I attended were pretty much in walking distance. but, then again, there really was no busing in the city that I lived in, because there were so many schools around. That has quickly changed however. The city is growing so fast that the schools can not keep up. Every school I went to was almost split right down the middle, between balck and white. My freshman year in high school, there were only 101 more white people in my school than black folks. They weren't bused there, the school was just the closest high school to them. I think my city was the exception though, because it was just set up like that. The majority white neighborhood and the majority black neighborhoods weren't too terribly close to each other either. The city just did a good job of districting, in my opinion. But then, what do I know??

Take it Sleepy!!!

Never Tired, Always Sleepy

You're such pests...now, what is it you want? In your depths of your ignorance, what is it you want? Well, whatever it is you want, I can't deliver because I just don't see it. - Orson Welles


Never Tired, Always Sleepy