You know, I've read this article from Reuters via Breitbart about 3 times and I'm still scratching my head over it. Let's read the opening paragraphs together:
The Obama administration released new guidelines on Friday aimed at promoting diversity and reducing racial isolation in education, replacing the policy adopted in 2008 under then-President George W. Bush.
Administration officials said the new guidance makes clear that educators may consider the race of students in certain plans designed to promote diversity and may reduce racial isolation among students in elementary and secondary schools.
Maybe I'm getting this wrong, and I'm sure someone will correct me, but as I state in this blogpost's title, it seems to me that this initiative is telling schools that they can basically shuffle the deck of students in a school...it's almost like busing students inside of the four walls so that they achieve some sort of ratio of minorities in each classroom.
What am I missing here readers? What is the issue here? Somebody help me out with this term "isolation." Do they mean segregation? When they say secondary schools do they mean that white kids have to be bused into different sections of town? Does it mean that since most of the students in L.A. are hispanic that they have to board a plane each morning and fly to Sacramento? Doesn't this mean that a college has to turn away white student applicants and wait for minorities to fill up the ratio in classrooms?
What gives?
P.S. by the way, I can't find ANYTHING on what exactly this 2008 policy of Bush's was on this matter.
Obama administration backs education diversity
(Reuters) - The Obama administration released new guidelines on Friday aimed at promoting diversity and reducing racial isolation in education, replacing the policy adopted in 2008 under then-President George W. Bush.
Administration officials said the new guidance makes clear that educators may consider the race of students in certain plans designed to promote diversity and may reduce racial isolation among students in elementary and secondary schools.
The new policy reflected several Supreme Court rulings in recent years, including one in 2003 that reaffirmed that racial preferences can be used in university admission decisions.
But the Supreme Court since then has become more conservative and more skeptical of such programs. The court may soon decide whether to hear a case involving the University of Texas that would reconsider the 2003 ruling and the use of race in undergraduate admissions decisions.
The guidance from the Education Department and the Justice Department was sent to as many as 4,000 colleges and universities, 15,000 school districts and some 18,000 educational institutions nationwide.
It supports voluntary efforts by schools to foster diversity and recognizes learning benefits to students when campuses and schools include students of diverse backgrounds.
"Racial isolation remains far too common in America's classrooms today and it is increasing," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement accompanying the new policy.
Studies have shown that U.S. schools have become more segregated now than at the time of the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the African-American civil rights leader.
Educators have told administration officials that the previous Bush administration guidelines failed to sufficiently make clear that race can be taken into account as part of efforts to achieve diversity at colleges and university.
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