Celebrating the Anniversary of Brown v. Board

Tomorrow our country marks the 54^th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. Even though 54 years have passed since purposeful segregation was ended in our schools, many minority students are still not receiving equal educational opportunities. Too often they are far less likely to attend schools with high expectations and effective teachers. Due to these diminished educational settings, we are not adequately preparing minority students for college, work and life.

A recent study by the Manhattan Institute found that black and Latino students are only about half as likely as white students to graduate from high school prepared for four-year colleges. This means that minority students are more likely to fail college placement exams and have to spend money on remedial classes in college. In 2007, the California State University system reported that two out of three black freshmen who enrolled in fall 2006 had to take remedial courses in English or mathematics.

On the anniversary of Brown v. Board it's imperative that we continue to live up to the promise of giving all students equal opportunities to succeed in college, work and life. To do this, we need to make sure that we are challenging our students, providing effective teachers in every classroom and giving them the time and support for learning that they truly deserve.

Comments

[Jim Breitinger]

Thanks for this blog Governor Romer! You've long been a hero of mine for the work you do in education. Thanks especially for helping to start WGU.

I am a member of the Coalition for Solutions Through Higher Education. We're an Arizona based group that exists to support the public universities in our state and remind people of the critical mission of our universities as America struggles to stay competitive.