One definition of tragedy is to have a conflict between two sides, both of which are morally correct. Such is the tragedy of Jacob Eisenberg, a 7-year-old white boy whose transfer to a magnet school was denied by the school district in Montgomery County, Maryland, solely because of his race.
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The problem, in the eyes of the diversity-minded district, was that the mostly white math and science academy to which he applied already had enough whites and the school he wanted to leave did not have enough.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that barred such “racial balancing.” That circuit lived up to its notoriously conservative reputation by declaring the transfer policy to be not only unconstitutional but “evil.”
Evil? Well, not quite. Montgomery County, like countless other school districts across the country, has argued quite reasonably that racial and ethnic diversity has actual academic benefit. In an era in which white males are the slowest growing group in the workforce it is not “evil,” various educators point out, to want children to learn from an early age to get along with others who come from a variety of backgrounds.
But the other side asks just as reasonably, why should a kid like Jacob Eisenberg be denied a quality education in a nearby school just because of his skin color? What kind of lesson is that for him?
Indeed, I have asked myself whether it is appreciably different from the bitter pill I had to swallow as an African-American who grew up in the 1950s when I, at Jake’s age, was told that I could not go to a nearby amusement park because I was black.
Of course, the big moral difference between Jacob’s lesson and mine has to do with history. I was discriminated against by a racist system designed to limit the opportunities of minorities. Jacob is discriminated against by a racially conscious policy intended to broaden opportunities for children of all races so they might learn more about each other.
The courts have recognized this in the past but conservative jurists increasingly are striking down desegregation efforts that were not the result of earlier court orders.
It is that conundrum that makes both sides morally correct in this dispute and neither side fully satisfied, even when they win. Little Jacob’s dad, Jeffrey Eisenberg, a Washington, D.C., lawyer and lobbyist, has told reporters he supports the goals of diversity but the discrimination against his son, despite his son’s high math and science aptitude, got him into a fight that he had expected to win with much less fuss.
The Eisenbergs are not alone. Across the nation, stories like the Eisenbergs’ are causing Americans to rethink voluntary desegregation efforts, especially when such efforts inconvenience their own children. In some cases, minority parents have joined white parents in wondering whether the time, money and energy spent on desegregation and other diversity efforts might be better spent improving schools where help is needed most.
What are school districts to do now? By deciding not to decide, the high court set no legal precedent. But it cast a broad shadow of doubt across the future of voluntary efforts to desegregate public schools.
More, quite likely, will follow the pattern set by school districts that use lotteries to decide which applicants will be accepted into coveted magnet positions. Nearby Arlington County, Virginia, for example, held “weighted” lotteries, awarding extra chances to racial minorities, but switched back to a blind lottery after the Montgomery County decision.
Other districts may find themselves looking for other socioeconomic proxies for race, in much the same way that some colleges and universities have done to foster diversity despite recent setbacks to affirmative action.
I have another suggestion: Improve the schools.
Ultimately, all schools should be “magnet” schools. All public schools should have the resources they need to give all American children a chance to participate in the socioeconomic mainstream. We should not see families struggling to get their kids into a few coveted magnet-school slots. There should be plenty of slots to go around.
It is no secret that magnet schools were invented to slow the white, middle-class flight that racial fears and poor schools were stirring. There’s nothing “evil” about diversity or the desire to maintain it. The best way to maintain it is by offering schools that are attractive to everyone and not by trying to hold students captive when their parents want them to transfer elsewhere.
In the rush to magnetize a few model schools, too many others have been left behind academically. Many of those schools left behind are in poor neighborhoods that have become more racially and economically isolated than ever. That’s the biggest school tragedy of all.
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