Government officials and civil-rights leaders are still looking for solutions to the twin housing problems of poverty and racism. That ruling served as a powerful tool in the struggle to improve education for millions of young African-Americans. But the fight is not over yet. Civil-rights laws have made it illegal to deny a student admittance to a school because of his or her race. But in many parts of the country, schools are still segregated, if only by circumstance.
Most kids attend a school close to where they live.
Since blacks and whites still often live apart, they often learn apart as well. The same conditions that cause housing problems for African-Americans also harm young blacks' chances for quality educations and good jobs. If a neighborhood is poor, so is its public school, in most cases. But kids in inner-city schools with smaller budgets have to make do with old equipment, outdated books, and few or no special programs. Even when blacks and whites attend the same schools, they often run into another kind of segregation.