Gary Orfield

Gary Orfield is a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and director of its Project on School Desegregation. In the following viewpoint, Orfield argues that public-school integration can help to alleviate the effects of societal discrimination on minority students. While some desegregation efforts have not been successful, the author maintains, well-planned desegregation programs at many middle-class suburban schools offer minority students high-quality educations and chances for future success. Orfield concludes that policymakers should not allow past failures to thwart present and future school-desegregation efforts.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. In Orfield’s opinion, what has caused America’s “backward movement” toward segregation in schools"
2. According to the author, how did conservative opinion about the country’s racial patterns affect school-desegregation efforts"
3. What was the purpose of the Emergency School Aid...