DISPROPORTIONAL EDUCATION AMONGST BLACK AND WHITE 1

STUDENTS ACROSS AMERICA Running head: Disproportional Education

DISPROPORTIONAL EDUCATION AMONGST BLACK AND WHITE STUDENTS

ACROSS AMERICA

Michael A. Mathews

Educational Division

Wright State University

Disproportional Education 2

Disproportional Levels of Education Amongst Black and White Students

Introduction

In the United States’ Supreme Court Case, Plessy V. Ferguson (1896), the decision,

“separate but equal” was instituted across the United States of America. This idea that separate

facilities, opportunities, tools, access, materials, etc. would ever be measured by the same

standards was virtually unfathomable as commented on by Darby (2010). There are many

differences in the level of education that students who matriculate in predominately Black

educational institutions receive compared to those students that attend predominately White

educational institutions across America, found by Irvin and Irvin (2007). This collective research

and study have the purpose of uncovering the reasons behind the disproportional levels of

education students across America have received for decades and continue to do so. This study

takes a closer look at predominately Black and predominately White secondary school children

and the levels of education each group receives across the nation, and more specifically Dayton,

Ohio.

Literature Review

The undeniable disproportionate levels of education in America date back decades as

Brownstein (2014) explains. One of the biggest signs of progress towards equality in terms of

education for children of all races was the landmark Supreme Court Case, Brown V. Board of

Education Topeka (1954). Ruby Bridges was the first Black student male or female to attend

school amongst her white peers. Darby (2010) discusses the issues that America has dealt with

along its ever-present struggle for true equality. Amongst these issues are the constant battle for

monetary funds. Certain schools have greater pools of money to pull from when additional

materials are needed. There are many stipulations across educational programs as they differ in
Disproportional Education 3

accessibility to students. Location and the private or public sector determines much of the

reasoning behind school attendance.

In the interest of equality, and a fight for a more unified America, Bell (1980) describes

the opposition, conflict, and unaligned issues America faced with desegregation. Creating an

environment that is conducive, beneficial and equal was the goal, but there were many battles

along the road as noted by the Supreme Court Case, Brown V. Board of Education Topeka

(1954). In this case, separate publics school for Blacks and Whites were ruled unconstitutional.

This decision virtually turned over the ruling and decision in the Supreme Court Case, Plessy V.

Ferguson (1896), which made “separate but equal” the standard. The unconstitutionality of

Plessy V. Ferguson (1896), continued to support racism, prejudice, and hate. People in support of

integrating school systems were imperative in the fight against the opposition as noted by

Johnson and Wilson (2015). Johnson and Wilson (2015) also illuminate the truths behind

activism: as the fight for complete equality in all aspects of life continues, but more specifically,

education, the communities that surround and support movements and activism make positive

impacts towards necessary improvements and change.

As it has been commonly found and been studied, student attendance of a student is one

of the biggest determining factors in levels of retention, successful completion, understanding,

and comprehension, Anderson (2016). Darby (2009) comments on the uphill battle with the

educational system in relation to integration, and the slow and trying process it has been. Even

still to this day the American people struggle with complete integration and assimilation into one

another’s cultures in terms of race. This struggle trickles down to children in terms of their

comfort level in school. As Hochschild and Scovronick (2013) highlight the way the American

Dream and Education relate: children have an idealized sense of what an American dream is, and
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if they do not fit in to the “norm” they may feel discouraged. Comfort, belonging, and

acceptance are imperative for a student to thrive and learn in an environment.

Obvious overall integration is seemingly apparent to those viewing the educational

system in America today from the outside. Children, regardless of race, are able to attend

educational institutions together. Brownstein (2014) describes integration as a positive in

American history, but amongst the after effects, certain things were overlooked, and today those

oversights have left certain aspects of the educational system in dismay. The work, Building

Better Narratives in Black Education by Anderson (2016) explains many of the challenges

children face in school. There are many underlying issues that one may not see from the outside

looking in.

Current Investigation

Historical reparations and the current dismantling and rebuilding of the educational

system across America have helped and hurt in the fight for educational equality. As the

educational system pertains to students on the basis of race at specific educational institutions,

there have been and still are great differences in the levels of education students receive. In this

study, the reasons Black and White students’ education levels differ will be looked at very

closely. In attempts to close the “gaps” in education, possible solutions will be looked at as well.

Closing the “gaps” in education will create a more equitable future for society as a whole as

communicated through the work of Darby (2009).

This study will also take a closer look at the impact desegregation had on the educational

system. After continuous separation and inequality for years, the abrupt change (that took place

in a short amount of time compared to all the years of segregation) in integrating school systems

across the United States of America forced change without much warning. Brownstein (2014)
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explains how it is still possible the American people are failing decades after Brown V. Board of

Education. Children have been done a disservice in the process of assimilation and integration in

the school system over the years. Based on the above literature review, the following hypothesis

will be advanced:

H1: Students of different races (Black and White) receive disproportional levels of

education on the basis of accessibility, opportunity, resources, and materials.

Methodology

This research has been conducted through the use and employment of the content

analysis method. Many quantitative documents have been written on this subject, thus for the

purposes of this study, many documents were collected and analyzed. The materials that were

gathered for this study have been reviewed very closely in hopes of gathering enough

information to draw conclusions about the overall discourse of this topic.

Participants

Participants in this study will be children in Brookville High School in Brookville, Ohio

and Thurgood Marshall High School in Dayton, Ohio. Referencing the use of the content

analysis, students’ test scores, grade point averages, extra-curricular activity, tutoring services

accessibility, participation throughout the school, and successful completion rates of each grade

level will be examined. Overall performance is what is being examined by looking at all of these

metrics that measure educational performance.

Materials and Equipment

Each of the records will be retrieved from the respective school systems. The records

stated above will be reviewed carefully and analyzed to draw trends and track the statistics over

the school years. Current records will be viewed along with records that date back five and ten
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years. After the data is tracked from each school, it will be compared individually and cross-

sectionally to one another. This information will allow conclusions to be drawn about school

systems and the education they have accessible to students. Thus, allowing overarching themes,

continuous, or cyclical trends that appear this information will support equal or disproportional

levels of education in different racially predominate schools and school systems.

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References

Anderson, M. B. L. (2016). Building Better Narratives in Black Education. The United Negro

College Fund, 1(1), 1-24. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED569957.pdf.

Bell, Jr., Derrick A. (1980). Brown et al v. Board of Education and the Interest-Convergence

Dilemma. Harvard Law Review, 93(3), 518-533. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/1340546.

Brownstein, R. (2014). How We’re Still Failing 60 Years After Brown V. Board of Education.

National Daily Journal, 9-9. https://eds-a-ebscohost-

com.ezproxy.libraries.wright.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=32377d6e-ead0-4e4f-

970e-a2379b791c8c%40sdc-v-

sessmgr06&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=95769532&db=eo.

Darby, D. (2009). Educational inequality and the Science of Diversity in Grutter: Lesson from

the Reparations Debate in the age of Obama. University of Kansas Law Review, 57(4),

755-794. https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/ukalr57&id=763.

Darby, D. (2010). Reparations and Racial Inequality. Wiley Online Library, 1(1), 1-12.

doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.7479991.2009.00268.x.

Hochschild, Jennifer L. and Scovronick, Nathan. (2003). The American Dream and the Public

Schools. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.

Irvine, J. and Irvine, R. (2007). The Impact of the Desegregation Process on the Education of

Black Students: A Retrospective Analysis. The Journal of Negro Education, 76(3),

297-305. https://www.jstor-org.ezproxy.libraries.wright.edu/stable/40034572.

Johnson, L. and Wilson, C. (2015). Black Educational Activism for Community Empowerment:

International Leadership Perspectives. International Journal of Multicultural

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Education, 17(1). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1104955.pdf

U.S. Supreme Court Library (1896). Plessy v. Ferguson. 163, 537-563.

https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/ukalr57&id=763

U.S. Supreme Court Library (1954). Brown et al v. of Topeka Board of Education et al. 347,

483-496. https://heinonline-

org.ezproxy.libraries.wright.edu/HOL/Page?public=true&handle=hein.usreports/

usrep347&div=45&start_page=483&collection=usreports&set_as_cursor=4&me

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