From: t0f7579@zeus.tamu.edu (FREEMAN, THOMAS, JR.)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Busing's Unheralded Legacy
Date: 8 Apr 92 08:26:00 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41


The following is an article taken from U.S. News and World Report, April 13
issue, which provides facts that argue against the unfavorable image
of forced busing that seems to be so prevalent lately:

"It may seem like a flashback to the Nixon era, but school busing still has
the power to inflame.  Last week, the Supreme Court relaxed the rules under
which school boards could slip out of court-ordered desegregation plans and
declared in a majority opinion that "racial balance is not to be achieved
for its own sake." ....Liberal activists, on the other hand, bemoaned
the court's ruling, predicting that it would spur school districts to weaken
desegregation plans. ......The decision freed DeKalb County, Ga from
implementing "heroic measures" to advance school integration ... on the
grounds that the segregation of county schools now stems from housing
choices rather than from Jim Crow policies and laws.  Even so, the ruling
could eventually fray the numerous mandatory busing programs that undergird
many of the court ordered desegregation plans now in effect in well over
500 school districts.  And the surprising truth is that mandatory busing,
despite its horrific reputation, has modestly benefited many students.

For two decades, pundits and politicians have repeatedly decried busing
as one of the nations's great social policy disasters.  The accepted wisdom
is that it forced huge numbers of white families to abandon urban schools,
exacerbated racial tensions, lowered student achievement and provoked near
universal antipathy.  Such public impressions stem largely from early,
well-publicized horror stories [ i.e. Charlotte, NC and Boston ].  
...Today, the facts about busing are simply at odds with many popular myths.
Some examples:

*BUSING IS EXTREMELY UNPOPULAR--EXCEPT AMONG LIMOUSINE LIBERALS.  The majority
of Americans still oppose busing. However, nearly 40 % of the public now
favors busing to integrate schools, a huge across the board increase from 20
years ago.  Among whites, support for busing rose from just 14 % in 1972
to 32 % last year; black support increased from 55 % to 63 %. Ironically,
public backing [for busing] began rising noticeably during the first term
of die hard busing opponent Ronald Reagan.....Critics have suggested that the
only people who truly like mandatory busing are civil rights activists and
well-heeled liberals who can afford to escape it by sending their kids to
pricey private schools or moving to affluent suburbs.  The truth, however,
is that poorly educated Americans and low wage workers are far more likely
than college graduates and the wealthy to support busing. In 1990, [pollster]
Harris found that roughly 50% of those earning less than $15,000 favored
busing to achieve racial balance, compared with just 31 % of those with
incomes above $50,000.  And the most supportive parents turned out to be
precisely those whose kids had been bused. By 1987, Harris found that
3 out of 4 such parents were "very satisfied" with busing.

*BUSING HURTS KIDS ACADEMICALLY AND INFLAMES RACE HOSTILITIES.  Scholars
attempting to measure student achievement have found it difficult to isolate
the effect of busing itself from other desegregation measures. The results
[ of board studies of the impact of busing on school integration ] generally
show that desegregation has no measurable effect on white academic achievement.
But for black students, desegregated classrooms can lead to modest reading
gains, particularly before third grade.  A literature review by Robert Crain
of Columbia U.'s Teachers College and researcher Rita Mahard found that
black children who attended desegregated kindergartens or first grades in the
1970s closed about a third of the black-white gap on standardized reading 
tests.  
	Integrated schools also can reduce prejudice and boost opportunities
for blacks later in life.  In one landmark study, Columbia's Crain compared
two groups of black students in Hartford, CT from 1965 through 1983.  The
first group was randomly assigned to segregated black urban schools, while
the second was bused to largely white, suburban schools.  Students in the
integrated schools were less likely to drop out of school, get arrested or
become teen parents, and they were more likely to graduate from college,
hold good jobs and live in integrated neighborhoods.  Not all studies have
found such beneficial results, but at worst, desegregation appears to
have no measurable impact on racial attitudes, self-esteem or achievement.

*BUSING CAUSED MASSIVE WHITE FLIGHT.  Everyone agrees that busing fueled 
a white exodus from urban schools; in fact, minority students often
attend schools today that have fewer whites than when busing began....But
busing was only one cause--and not necessarily the primary one--for the
loss of white students in big city public schools.  Crime, higher taxes,
pollution and a declining white birth rate also played leading roles.
In a recent survey for the National School Boards Association, Harvard
Prof. Gary Orfield found that white enrollment fell substantially after
the 1970s, even in cities that had stopped busing or had no desegregation
orders.

	Like most educational reforms, busing can be done well or poorly.
Successful cities like Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC have actively solicited
parental involvement and have included suburban schools.  By contrast,
outside consultants used mathematical formulas to design Boston's botched
plan; a judge imposed it, and the buses stopped at city limits.
	No one anticipates that mandatory busing will return to favor,
despite evidence of its success.  School officials are likely to rely on
less controversial measures, including magnet schools and voluntary
busing....But many communities, unable to afford magnet schools, will
also persist in busing thousands of students for years to come.  If the
past is any guide, that may be to their advantage.

By David Whitman and Dorian Friedman "U.S. News & World Report", April 13,
1992, pp. 63-65

A Table included as part of the article:

		Comparing the Tools of School Integration

Forced busing has been the most effective approach to integrating schools.
Magnet school plans have achieved greater integration success than
neighborhood schools.

Percentage of black children still in heavily segregated schools

Mandatory busing in city    Magnet-school plans    Neighborhood schools only
  Denver______________0%      Cincinnati______20%     DeKalb Co, GA______48%
  Minneapolis_________0%      Milwaukee_______23%     Baltimore__________70%
  Cleveland___________4%      Philadelphia____73%     New York___________75%
  Boston_____________24%      Chicago_________85%     Atlanta____________92%

USN&WR--Basic data:  National School Boards Association