‘Racially Identifiable’ Schools the New Plague

Parents with children in Walthall County Schools in Tylertown, Mississippi, may request transfers for their children. Last year, about 250 whites and 50 blacks exercised the option and transferred their children from predominantly black Tylertown High School to predominantly white Salem Attendance Center. (Source)

Based on the numbers, it seems more white parents than black parents don’t like Tylertown. Now why is that? Why would parents want to pull a child out of one school and place him in another? Let’s speculate. Salem may be closer to where the white transferees live. The teachers at Salem are probably better qualified. Salem may rank higher academically than Tylertown. Salem’s environment may be safer and more conducive to learning. White students may feel more comfortable at Salem. Whatever the reason, requesting a transfer from Tylertown to Salem isn’t illegal or unethical.

But you wouldn’t know that from reading and listening to news stories. There mere fact that whites are leaving a predominantly black school in greater numbers than blacks is enough to brand the acts racist.

I frequently wonder about this phenomenon, the dreaded fear of a majority black school. They are to be avoided like the plague, even if it means hauling children to schools outside their neighborhoods. The implication is that black students can’t learn among their own. White students must be present, or we’re headed back to the days of Jim Crow.

I am patiently waiting for black parents to start raising a ruckus over Chicken Little pronouncements about majority black schools.

That whites may not want their children attending schools with blacks isn’t the issue. Who cares? Parents may take advantage of transfer policies as they see fit. If the Walthall County School District granted transfers only to white students, however, the actions clearly would be discriminatory. Obviously, that isn’t the case.

Whatever black parents in Walthall County may think, it doesn’t matter, anyway. A federal judge ruled that parents in the district exercising transfer options have created “racially identifiable” schools, a bad thing. The judge also found that the district’s elementary schools “were concentrating white students into certain classrooms, a practice some school officials have defended as necessary to avoid white flight from the county.”

Are teachers (white and black?) separating students based on the color of their skin or on each student’s ability? The likely reason for the concentration is the academic achievement gap. Higher achievers are grouped in higher-level classes, which typically results in a racial imbalance. It may seem wrong or racist or illegal, but it isn’t.

At any rate, the judge ordered students who transferred from Tylertown to return. One word: homeschooling. Don’t be surprised if the government tries to ban it.

The district’s transfer policy was race-neutral. After the judge’s ruling, the district has two options: stop transfers altogether, or begin approving and denying transfers based on race.

And we’re back where we started. Progress!