School integration benefits - METCO Incorporated

THE CASE FOR SCHOOL INTEGRATION

In 1954, the Supreme Court found that racial segregation is a major driver of educational inequity. When Boston refused to integrate public schools, black women from Roxbury and white suburban residents teamed up to create a new way. That’s why METCO was founded.

Racial segregation persists. Like most cities, Boston has been resegregating since the 1980s and is now more divided than ever.

That means METCO is more important than ever.

“As Massachusetts is becoming more diverse, students of color are becoming more racially isolated in urban schools....Major change, especially outside the Commonwealth’s largest cities, will only come through bold state support and continued public advocacy.”

SCHOOL INTEGRATION IN MASSACHUSETTS: RACIAL DIVERSITY AND STATE ACCOUNTABILITY, Summer 2020

“The problem with segregation is that it makes us more likely to assume that people are a certain way—to stereotype how they think and who they are. You often don’t get a chance to know someone from a different racial background, so you never get to learn why all those things you think you know are actually wrong. Separate will never be equal because when you segregate people—as we do when we rely on residential borders to decide where a child goes to school—you draw a fence around them. You isolate them from power, from resources, from wealth. Segregation separates people from opportunity."

ELISE BODDIE
law professor, founder and executive director of
The Inclusion Project at Rutgers University Law School in Newark,
quoted in NJ Spotlight

INTEGRATION BENEFITS EVERYONE.

STUDENTS

SCHOOLS

SUBURBAN COMMUNITIES

STUDENTS

Academic success	Critical thinking Problem-solving Self-confidence Richer learning environment
Cross-cultural knowledge and empathy	Reducing prejudice Encouraging cross-racial friendships Likelihood of living in diverse neighborhoods later in life
Preparation for employment in the global economy	96% of major employers say it is “important” that employees be “comfortable working with colleagues, customers, and/or clients from diverse cultural backgrounds.”
Increased civic engagement	Participation in community activities