Educational Inequality and Reform Movements in the American Society

Educational Inequality and Reform Movements in the American Society

  Education is the domain where class and race are closely connected to each other. The educational segregation and school finance gap is intertwined, producing educational inequality between the whites and the African-Americans. The educational segregation used to be the main arena of conflict until the 1970"s, while the school finance inequality emerged as a new battle ground since then. The desegregation movement drew hot attention as a reform to the former problem, but lost its momentum since then. In its place school finance litigations and administrative reforms emerged as a new measure addressing the racial inequality in education. The state of racial inequality in school is examined with particular emphasis on the connection of educational segregation and school financial gap. After that, litigations and reform efforts to improve on such inequalities is reviewed by following important historical moments over the past half century. Finally, the paper closes with a remark on the implication and prospect of reform efforts.