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Forced to Fail The Paradox of School Desegregation
Stephen J. Caldas, Carl L. Bankston
Book Code: C8693
ISBN: 0-275-98693-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-98693-3
268 pages, figures; tables
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 8/30/2005
List Price: $46.95 (UK Sterling Price: £26.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects: Awards:
  • 2007 Stanford M. Lyman Distinguished Book Award
Reviews:
  • According to Caldas and Bankston, efforts to enhance racial mixing in schools have been self-defeating. They contend that the premise of desegregation was that schools could redesign American society; however, they believe this clashed with the goals of parents who were concerned only with benefiting their own children....In their new book, the authors look at a wide range of secondary sources to conclude that school people in the US face a paradox. While minority youth might profit from attending middle-class schools, middle-class parents abandon schools that must desegregate. Since the authors believe that racial desegregation exacerbates the problems schools and communities face, they favor strengthening neighborhood schools....Recommended. General readers, upper-division undergraduates through faculty.
    —Choice     May 2006
  • Endorsement From Min Zhou,
    Professor and Inaugural Chair, Department of Asian American Studies
    University of California, Los Angeles:     This timely book offers a critical look at school desegregation, guiding readers toward a better understanding of how race, class, and social networks influence educational outcomes. Caldas and Bankston envision an alternative, more realistic, approach to providing equal access to educational opportunities.
  • Endorsement From Christine H. Rossell,
    Professor, Political Science Department
    Boston University:     The wealth of data on achievement differences between race and ethnic groups and school desegregation over the past century and around the country make this a must read for anyone interested in the problems and needs of African American students. The recommendations of Caldas and Bankston will provoke controversy because they are honest and realistic.
Description: The book traces the long legal history of first racial segregation, and then racial desegregation in America. The authors explain how rapidly changing demographics and family structure in the United States have greatly complicated the project of top-down government efforts to achieve an "ideal" racial balance in schools. It describes how social capital--a positive outcome of social interaction between and among parents, children, and teachers--creates strong bonds that lead to high academic achievement. The authors show how coercive desegregation weakens bonds and hurts not only students and schools, but also entire communities. Examples from all parts of the United States show how parents undermined desegregation plans by seeking better educational alternatives for their children rather than supporting the public schools to which their children were assigned. Most important, this book offers an alternative, more realistic viewpoint on class, race, and education in America.
Table of Contents:
  • School Desegregation: A Policy in Crisis
  • How Did We Get Here?
  • The Demographic Transformation of America
  • It Takes "A Certain Kind" of Village to Raise a Child
  • The Political Economy of Education and Equality of Educational Opportunity
  • Rational Self-Interest vs. Irrational Government Policy
  • School Desegregation and the Racial Achievement Gap
  • A New Perspective of Race and Schooling: Attaining the Dream
LC Card Number: 2005009817
LCC Class: LC212
Dewey Class: 379
PDF Catalogs:
Praeger Politics 2007.pdf
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