Fifty years later, irony and reflection

On Tuesday, the Little Rock Nine participated in a 50th anniversary celebration of the court-ordered 1957 integration of Central High School over the objection of the Arkansas governor and with the aid of the National Guard.

In a victory for equal opportunity, the Little Rock intervention was designed to end racial segregation of America's schools -- segregation in which actual conditions nearly always gave lie to any notion of "separate but equal."

The 50th anniversary celebration carried considerable irony, given that just three months ago the U.S. Supreme Court, in two rulings narrowing the 1954 Brown vs. the Board of Education decision, said race could not be a serious factor in determining school assignments.

In fact, U.S. schools are daily growing more segregated. As reported by CNN, Harvard University's 2004 Civil Rights Project showed integration in U.S. schools peaked in 1988 and re-segregation began in earnest following a 1991 Supreme Court ruling that favored neighborhood schools. The June rulings provided more legal support for that trend.

In yet another irony closer to home, Elgin School District U-46 was sued for discrimination by minority parents because it used "neighborhood schools" as its prime boundary-setting tenet. After years of attempting to maintain racial balance in its schools and busing to achieve it, it used neighborhood schools as a preference in its massive redistricting in 2004, creating more segregated schools.

Mirroring, as mentioned, a national trend.

The Little Rock Nine must be wondering at the end result of their efforts and the personal courage and sacrifices they entailed when they look at Little Rock public schools today. The same CNN report said 70 percent of the city schools' students are black despite the fact that blacks constitute only 40 percent of the population. And 52 percent of Central High students are black, according to the Associated Press, with white students increasingly attending private schools or moving to the suburbs. This closing of a huge circle first opened in the 1950s is occurring all over the country.

As is the case with nearly all statistics, one can find research arguing that integrated schools produce better performance just as one can find a study showing that attending school close to home is better for performance. Too often, though, schools segregated by race are also segregated by income and resources, with poorer schools suffering by comparison when it comes to quality of staff, books, equipment and instruction. For that reason, as well as for other cultural benefits, integration remains desirable even as many Americans clearly have grown tired of decades-long legal battles, busing and other related matters.

What should the average American think at this juncture, and in what direction should the nation go? Much has changed since Little Rock, and easy answers on the best way to ensure quality education for all are elusive. This much has not changed: Because a well-educated populace is key to a democratic society's health, equal education opportunities are as vital today and will be as essential 50 years from now as they were on that September day back in 1957.