Who is the Child Left Behind: The Racial Meaning of the New School Reform

Segregated schools achieve their racist purpose by building a wall between poor black and brown children and those of us with privilege, influence, and power. It does not matter that this wall is not built pursuant to the mandate of law or that it is created by the cumulative effect of our private choices. It is segregation nonetheless and it encourages us to hoard our wealth on one side of the wall while children on the other side are left with little. The genius of segregation as a tool of oppression is in the signal it sends to the oppressor - that our hoarding of resources is O.K., and in the lesson it teaches - that there is no need for sharing, no moral requirement for empathy and care. This afternoon I return to this theme in a different, while related, context through an examination of the No Child Left Behind Act (Act or NCLB). I will argue that, while the Act\u27s stated goals are laudable, its conception, implementation, and the social meaning revealed by the discourse and rhetoric it has spawned, perpetuate and exacerbate the injuries inflicted upon poor black and brown children by segregation, racism, and poverty

Two View of the River: A Critique of the Liberal Defense of Affirmative Action

In response to the attack on affirmative action at educational institutions, the argument that the benefits of diversity necessitate keeping affirmative action has emerged as the dominant defense of race-conscious admissions policies. Describing this argument as the “liberal defense of affirmative action,” Professor Lawrence critiques the liberal defense because it fails to challenge the manner in which traditional standards of merit perpetuate race and class privilege, and pushes aside more radically, substantive defenses of affirmative action which articulate the need to remedy past and ongoing discrimination. While recognizing the difficulties and ambivalence inherent in advancing a new vision for defending affirmative action, Professor Lawrence points to post-Proposition 209 litigation by students of color against the Regents of the University of California to articulate a theory of transformative politics upon which to base future strategies for maintaining affirmative action and dismantling racial injustice