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Allison Blumenthal

Miss. Johnson

ELA9

04 May 2017

Common Assessment: School Segregation

Some people might say that school segregation is greater than it was 50 years ago. Well they're

not wrong. School segregation has taken a whole new meaning. Some schools in Alabama are all blacks

school but have two white students. The video “Racial Segregation in American Schools: return to the

1960’s” and the article “Our 21st- Century Segregation: We’re Still Divided by Race” both evoke pathos

and ethos to show that school segregation is still around and need to be stopped.

Both sources evoke pathos because you feel that is unfair that school segregation is still around

today and maybe is even worse than it was in the 1960’s. In the video, they say that, “ 152 jubilant

teenagres looking to the future but have been shaped by the past: their families, friends, teachers- the only

people missing- the white students, who by law should have shared their classrooms.” (“Racial

Segregation in American Schools: return to the 1960’s”). This quote evokes ethos because you feel that is

unfair that the white students could just pick up and move to a different school and leave behind this

school. This school only has two white students in the whole school and that is just not right. The students

shoulds have friends of different races and friends of different social classes. In the article, Allen says,

“...social and cultural segregation isn’t restricted to “uneducated” people living in the country. It is

equally prominent in environments where smart, educated people are supposed to “know better.””(Allen

2). This quote evokes pathos because you feel responsible for school segregation with this quote. When

you live in a middle to high class area you take for granted everything. You just say “oh they fix it.” or “

it’s their problem not ours”. You never look at the fact that we live in a better class and more people
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might listen to us over them so I’ll help and I’ll try to help better them. Throughout both sources, the both

appeals to pathos because school segregation is a very emotional topic that needs to be stopped.

Both source, “Our 21st- Century Segregation: We’re Still Divided by Race” and “Racial

Segregation in American Schools: return to the 1960’s” both appeal to ethos because they both have real

life situations that are credible. In the video, Clarence Sutton, the principle of Central High School in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, says, “The first thing that made us special, meaning you met people that was from

different sides of town, different walks of life, different classification.” (“Racial Segregation in American

Schools: return to the 1960’s”) This quote appeals to ethos because principle Sutton was a student at

Central High School in the 80’s when black and white students would sit together. He knows that isn’t not

right to have only two kids from one race and the everyone else from another race. The reason he says “

The first thing that made us special…” is because you are special if you can not be rasi and believe that

everyone is the same and love everyone the same. The article also uses ethos and says, “To complain

about all the times that I’ve felt odd being the only brown face in the crowd.” (Allen 4). This quote

appeals to ethos because he shouldn’t have to feel this way because if school start to integrate than kids

will grow up and not have to feel this way and they will feel that they have a place in this world. If you

start to integrate kids at a younger age then they will be less likely to be racist towards other races when

they are older. Both sources appeal to ethos because principle Sutton, is a principle at a school that doesn't

integrate and was also a student at a school that did integrate. Also Allen is a black male that lives in New

York city where most African American/ Black people are judged and segregated from other schools

because of their race.

Pathos and ethos are both evokes throughout both sources, the video, “Racial Segregation in

American Schools: return to the 1960’s” and the article, “Our 21st- Century Segregation: We’re Still

Divided by Race”. This topic of school segregation is important because kids are being separated from the

learning opportunities with other kids of other races. Kids shouldn’t be stuck in a classroom of all the
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same race there should be a diverse classroom. Kids can’t grow up their whole lives thinking that

everyone is the same race as them. When kids are integrated they are more likely to have more friends of

a different race and not be as racist as kids today. This problem can be fixed by bussing. Bussing sounds

like this bad thing but in reality is very good. It will get kids interacting with different types of people,

different walks of life and people of different social classes.