Last week we covered the extremely complicated system of educational funding. not surprisingly, schools that are considered “urban” or inner-city receive less funding then their rural or suburban counterparts. Although the current funding formulas are revered as just, there does seem to be an initiative that is designed to keep African-Americans and Latinos as a permanent underclass. Wow… while writing this blog I just saw a news segment on FOX news about affirmative action bake sale organized by a republican student association at UC-Berkeley. I attempted to find the segment directly from Fox News, but was unsuccessful. Observe this news clip from CNN on the same issue…
In this clip Tim Wise speaks in reference to institutionalized racism that afford whites in this country a more beneficial educational experience prior to college. His comments caused me to start thinking about what relationship school funding plays in that scenario. I find myself going back to the passage from Kozol in City Kids, City Schools (2008) where he describes the average per-pupil funding for bronx students being about 4,000 dollars less than their suburban counterparts. When I think about affirmative action, I often find myself torn between the ideas of leveling the playing field, and being offended at the fact that the playing field needs to be leveled in the first place. While I believe at its core affirmative action is a just program, I can’t help but feel like the puppet strings are being pulled on a little. The existence of affirmative action started the conversation, but does it open the floodgates? I can’t help but imagine the film The Matrix: Reloaded when the architect reveals that the function of “the one” is to aid in the rebuilding of Zion after it is destroyed. Where Neo is heralded as protector, only to find out he actually part of the system of control. So while Affirmative Action keeps the masses united in hope of equality, is it actually just another form of control designed to keep us from asking the real questions such as,why do minorities need it if the access to education is equal and consistent? Or how “equitable” is school funding when a 4,000 dollar per-pupil deficit exists in institutions only miles apart? I understand the reason it was created, and quite frankly I feel the achievement gap would probably be greater without it, but I do have my reservations. I just hope that the eventual goal of affirmative action is to move beyond getting more college applicants and job offers through and start looking at “leveling the playing field” in the schools systems.
djohnson82 
Very interesting blog. I find myself thinking the same thing about affirmative action and the role it plays. It levels the playing field but does it just confirm that minorities need the extra help because they’re not as capable as white?
I just come back to the feeling that affirmative action is “false generosity” as Freire would say. It is the system doubling back and admitting a flaw, but offers a token to rectify generations and generations of inequity. I would argue that it does not go far enough. After learning about the systematic ways that people of color have been denied equality by the structure, affirmative action is supposed to rectify that? It just doesn’t make sense. I come back to the notion that there needs to be significant restructuring, led by the folks that have been oppressed rather than the oppressors.