During our high school class today, we had a good and useful time talking

about statistics on race and school enrollments. The bottom line

is that the proportion of African American students in Prince George’s

County school soared upward by 72 percentage points from 1960 to the present.

Around 1980, the Black and White student populations were about equal.

Since there was mandatory busing in those days, we assume that a lot of

students attended truly integrated schools. Then the White students left,

at a faster rate than the White population of the county. Now the "exposure"

of Black students to White students (as measured by civil

right lawyers) is very low compared to other counties.

I think our students learned a fair amount about statistics and were

intrigued by the facts. But when we started asking them what they thought

about the trends, they clammed up. The history of school desegregation

in this County could be viewed as a temporary success (until the 1980s)

and a long-term failure because schools are almost as segregated today

as they were in 1960. Or one could say that the departure of White students

is not bad news at all, since the Black population is extremely diverse

(65 languages are spoken at Northwestern High School alone), and the median

income of the County is much higher than the national median—so there

are plenty of resources for an excellent school system. Our students wouldn’t

say what they thought, and I don’t blame them. Not only is this a difficult

issue, but three White college employees were suddenly asking them for

their candid opinions of a sensitive racial issue—a really unfair

demand. Yet I was disappointed, because I would like to know what they

think.