Racial Segregation Has Come Back To Public

Instead Of Seeing These Children For The Blessings That They Are, We Are Measuring Them Only By The Standard Of Whether They Will Be Future Deficits Or Assets For Our Nation's Competitive Needs.

During The Decades After Brown V. Board Of Education There Was Terrific Progress. Tens Of Thousands Of Public Schools Were Integrated Racially. During That Time The Gap Between Black And White Achievement Narrowed.

But When I Went To Harvard, It Kind Of Got Washed Out Of Me, Partly Because People Made Fun Of You In College. If You Said You Believed In God, They Would Look At You Clinically, You Know, Suggest That You Needed A Referral.

Unlike These Powerful Grown-ups, Children Have No Ideologies To Reinforce, No Superstructure Of Political Opinion To Promote, No Civic Equanimity Or Image To Defend, No Personal Reputation To Secure.

Childhood Is Not Merely Basic Training For Utilitarian Adulthood. It Should Have Some Claims Upon Our Mercy, Not For Its Future Value To The Economic Interests Of Competitive Societies But For Its Present Value As A Perishable Piece Of Life Itself.