"on the uncoordinated actions of thousands of parents"

Relying on open enrollment places the responsibility for school integration on the uncoordinated actions of thousands of parents, rather than on the planned actions of the schools themselves. We believe it is the responsibility of school authorities to take positive action to achieve the racial balance necessary for equality of educational opportunity.

 from "It Is Right--EDUCATIONALLY," the Report of the Advisory Committee on  Racial Imbalance in Education, 1965

 

If you're in online education or parenting spaces, you probably saw that the talk of the weekend was "In fighting for every Black child, did I betray my own?" by Nikole Hannah-Jones, who you might remember writing "Choosing a school for my daughter in a segregated city" in 2016. That daughter is now 16, and, as you'd expect of a child raised in a household in which such things are discussed, she has opinions. 

This, in turn, foster a lot of online conversation (and argument and worse) over the weekend about the decision. 

I will share only two thoughts: 

1. Someone who is 16 isn't done yet. What her daughter thinks of her own education, and of the choices her parents made regarding that, is not a settled thing as yet. Already, her daughter has seen the value of her having had time in majority-Black spaces; the relative value of that alongside all else in her schooling in the scope of where she ends up is something yet to be seen. 
   
   
2. It reminded me, vividly, of the above passage from the closest thing Massachusetts ever saw to a report on desegregation, in 1965. 
   We can do the best we can as parents; real change comes as a society.