Читать книгу Black in America - Christina Jackson - Страница 14

Education is both a predictable measure for analyzing Black progress, and a yardstick of Black failure. It is rife with contradictions – pervasive and savage inequalities that are at odds with the US national meritocratic ethos (Kozol 2012). Yet the maintenance of racial inequality in education today does not require bad actors. The structural inequality of poor learning outcomes from impoverished schools, unequal access to advanced placement courses and racially biased selection for gifted and talented programs can be maintained despite well-meaning people, good intentions and even policy changes. While obtaining an education has been a core means of Black resistance, it has also been a venue where the need for resistance is most obvious. To understand why, we have to begin at the beginning and incorporate a historical view to analyze the generational impact on the Black community of withholding access to a quality education.