Together but yet unequal??

As I read the higher education articles assigned for this week: Higher Ed: Engine of Inequity and Separate & Unequal , it reminds me of segregation.  The fight for integration enabled a few “token” students through the door – in an attempt to dispel the myth that we are no longer functioning in a separate but equal paradigm.  Some claim we live in what they call a post-racial society –"a country where race no longer matters, where racism no longer exists"¹.  There is a thought that if a few people have made it, the rest shouldn’t have an issue making it too – without really addressing systematic issues.  (Some crazy pull-yourself-up-from your bootstraps mess.)  

This neglects to recognize the systematic failures of the K-12 system; that is perpetually providing a second class education – where there are families who cannot afford to live in better school districts or have one parent homeschool their children.  In reality, the question is no longer solely about race but one of socioeconomic status.  One where we have developed a class-like system based on the have and have not’s.  However, systematic injustice aligned with race magnifies the issue to allow for it to appear to be solely a race issue.   

In our effort to quickly solve the problem,we attempt to apply simple solutions to this wicked problem.  The problem isn’t just about addressing why the top select 468 institutions are perpetuating white privilege; when in fact we fail to address why K-12 has systemically failed to prepare all students regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or geographic locations with the same education.   It’s like we are fighting the old chicken and egg argument within education.  What came first – the failures of the K-12 system or the selectivity of higher education?

¹ from http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/what-does-post-racial-mean-anyway