Brown v. Board of Education and Its Modern Effects

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Introduction: Brown v. Board of Education

Case background: education and racial profiling

Brown v. Board of Education was a legal case filed in 1952 in order to address the problem of racial discrimination in U.S. schools. It should be noted that the problem of racial segregation in the U.S. schools had developed a long history by the time that the Brown v. Board of Education case was filed. Prior to the case under consideration, the Plessy v. Fergusson case was considered for similar reasons, yet with different outcomes (segregation was viewed as reasonable as long as the quality of teaching remained similar for both groups of students (Amar, 2011)).

Protocol and court decision: summary

According to the protocol of the legal case, the plaintiff was represented by thirteen parents and their children, whereas the Topeka Board of Education was the defendant. The plaintiff claimed that the state legislation, which presupposed that separate education facilities should be provided to black and white students, was encouraging racial segregation and went against the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The court holding declared that segregation in schools was inadmissible since it prevented students from developing the social skills that they needed and did not comply with the key principles of U.S. democracy.

Thesis statement

Despite the fact that the Brown v. Board of Education case is often considered to be the event signifying the acquisition of irrefutable rights for African Americans, as well as the event-related solely to the education system of the United States, the case, in fact, was a milestone for the entire African American movement for equal rights, and was only a minor step in the right direction, with a range of obstacles to be defeated.

Current Education System and the Effects that Brown vs. Board of Education Has Had on It

If the claim concerning the radical effects that the Brown v. Board of Education court ruling has had on it is true, the effects of the specified decision should come out in full blue after a surface analysis of the present-day education in the U.S. Unfortunately, the lack of equality in terms of interracial relationships in most of the U.S. education establishments is truly upsetting, according to the 21^st-century reports. The rates of inequality in most of the U.S. higher education establishments leave much to be desired, as the research carried out in 2004 shows:

Though the 1954 ruling declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, it did not specify how this was to be remedied. Originally the Court scheduled arguments on this subject for later in the year, but it did not hear what would become the third round of arguments in Brown until April 1955. On the last day of its term, the Supreme Court ordered desegregation to begin with ‘all deliberate speed.’ (Delinder, 23004, para. 20)

Therefore, though the Topeka authorities made sure that the principles of equality supported by the decision of the court should be introduced into every single educational establishment within the area, it did not provide the alternative to the system existing prior to the court ruling. As a result, though de jure, equality was promoted as the only possible scenario of relationships within the academic realm, de facto, racial segregation still remained a major problem, hindering many African Americans from receiving the education that they needed and were fully entitled to.

In addition, an analysis of the current state of the U.S. education and the issues related to racial segregation in the U. S education establishments will reveal that the problem is still topical:

A range of sources, however, will show that, owing to the decision passed by the jury for the Brown v. Board of Education case, the issue, though still persistent, is being addressed in an adequate and comparatively efficient manner. After all, it is important to realize that an educational establishment is represented by different people with different sets of moral values and ethical principles, and making these people comply with a single standard for interracial relationships is a very complicated task, which is likely to take an impressive amount of time. Though the instances of racial profiling still emerge, the required measures are undertaken on a regular basis in order to provide the representatives of other nationalities, ethnicities, and races with their irrefutable rights and freedoms.

Considering the Counterargument: Brown v. Board of Education as the Pivoting Point

It should be noted, though, that the proponents of the supposition that the Brown v. Board of Education case was the event that transformed the American society and led to the recognition of the rights of African American people in the United States also have a point. Specifically, the cultural implications of the case must be considered to evaluate the effect that it had on the situation concerning the segregation of African American people in the USA.

According to the court ruling, it has been stated that “segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprives children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities, even though the physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors may be equal” (Brown vs. Board of Education, 1953, p. 483). Therefore, the concept of equality clearly started being promoted as the court announced its decision in favor of Brown.

Nevertheless, one must admit that the recognition of racial segregation as a crime against humanity was only stated de jure, whereas de facto discrimination remained in its place. The court ruling did not change the situation, and neither did it remove the problem from the fabric of the U.S. society – quite on the contrary, it took several more decades for the African American people to have their rights finally recognized by the American society.

Therefore, claiming that the Brown vs. Board of Education case changed the course of American history immediately would be quite a stretch. The judgment passed by the court merely set the premises for the African American population to finally succeed in attracting other people’s attention to the fight for their rights. Much to the credit of the Brown vs. Board of Education case, it received an immediate and very strong public response, with a range of people recognizing the necessity to fight for the rights of minorities. More importantly, the resolution of the case finally empowered Black people to join their efforts in a massive movement for their legal and civil rights and freedoms.

Nevertheless, the case did not trigger an immediate recognition of Black people’s rights. There were a range of backlashes from the people, who were not ready to recognize the representatives of minorities as equal (); as a result, the case was only one of the steps towards introducing the concept of equality into the legislation of the United States, and there were obviously much more steps to make.

A range of sources also claim that a case in point never concerned more than the field of education and, in fact, did not touch upon a range of other aspects of people’s lives, including the social status of the African American people within the U.S. society, the acceptance of their culture, the recognition of their rights, etc. To be more exact, some sources argue that a case in point never served as the means to introduce the concept of equality into any other aspect of people’s lives besides education. A closer look at the court decision, however, will reveal that the United States was at the verge of reinventing the foundation of the entire society at that moment. Judging by the court resolution, the idea of equal chances and opportunities was not only introduced into the realm of education but also into a range of other areas: “[…] an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms” (” (Brown vs. Board of Education, 1953, p. 493).

While the quote provided above related to education in the source material, it, in fact, could be applicable to a range of other areas and, therefore, heralded the era of equal rights and freedoms for the entire population of the United States. By claiming that an opportunity provided by the state must be made available to every single citizen, the court practically set the premises for the concept of equal rights to be integrated into every single field of economic, political, financial and social relationships between the American people and the citizens of the United States representing ethnic or national minorities.

Debating the Weakness of the Court Decision: What Could Have Been Done Differently

It should also be mentioned that, for a number of reasons, the decision passed by the Court is viewed as rather weak. A range of resources points at the fact that the pace at which the process of introducing equality into the U.S. education establishments took place should have been increased. True, the claims that the decision passed by the jury could be explained by the fact that most of the latter was represented by the supporters of racial segregation does explain the fact that the solution did not have an immediate effect on the U.S. education system and was, in fact, very vague.

True, a case in point does create an impression of being analyzed by the people, who were unwilling to address the obvious conflict that had been brewing in the state for several decades. Therefore, the fact that the sentence passed by the court held any weight in general, not to mention its effects on the education system, the American society, or the state regulations, becomes highly doubtful. Indeed, the case obviously represented a “compromise position” (Zirkel & Cantour, 2004, p. 2) and did not presuppose that any radical changes should be made to the existing system.

While in general, the aforementioned claim can be viewed as an alternative way to see the event, one still must agree that in the long run, the case had a tremendous effect on the very concept of human rights in the American society, since it finally made the latter recognize that the issue exists. While prior to the case, the instances of discrimination were taken for granted, the Brown vs. Board of Education case made people recognize that the problem exists and that it must be dealt with (Zirkel & Cantour, 2004, p. 3).

Giving Credit to Where It Belongs: Changing the Society

It should be born in mind that the effects, which the Brown v. Board of Education case has had on not only the education system of the USA, but also on the society, owes much to the fact that this case was not merely a one-note occurrence, but “the accumulation of a series of cases over more than a 100-year period” (Ladson-Billings, 2004, p. 14). Therefore, the case turned out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back; though no revolutionary changes were made to the U.S. society and its hierarchy immediately after the court decision was announced, the case launched a massive movement against the segregation process by making people aware of the problem. Ignoring the issue was no longer an option; the problem that had been brewing for decades had to be resolved, and the mechanism of fighting for people’s rights and freedoms was finally launched, trickling into every single area, from education to politics, economy and social life.

Conclusion: What the Brown v. Board of Education Case Stood for

One of the most memorable events in the history of the fight for the rights and freedoms of the African American people in the United States, Brown vs. Board of Education case, clearly made a difference in the education process. Though the case cannot be considered the event that reinvented the anti-discrimination movement and revived it fully, it still served as a stimulus towards promoting the principles of equality in American society. The case contributed to enhancing equality ideas not only in the educational context but also in the realm of social interactions.

Reference List

Amar, A. R. (2011). Plessy v. Ferguson and the anti-canon. Pepperdine Law Review, 39(75), 75-90. Web.

Brown vs. Board of Education. (1953). Web.

Ladson-Billings, G. (2004). Landing on the wrong note: The price we paid for Brown. Educational Researcher, 33(7), 3–13. Web.

Zirkel, S. & Cantour, N. (2004). 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education: The promise and challenge of multicultural education. Journal of Social Issues, 60(1), 1–15. Web.

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