Addressing Racial Inequality Through Education in Rochester

When thinking about all the forms of racism, I cannot help but feel that if the City of Rochester had a greater educational foundation, that racism would begin to decline. By not offering minority and impoverished children the same level of education, we foster the idea of filtering these students into a predetermined future. If we as a citizens of were to offer equal treatment and opportunities to minority students, their futures would no longer be as constricting. If equal amounts of education were finally offered, people of all races would at least be able to look upon each other equally as academics.

This will also offer Rochester an even more academically qualified minority workforce, giving them the opportunity to take higher positions in their respective businesses. It is because of this that I feel racial inequality in Rochester is effected by the lack of education in the City School District.

Although Rochester New York may not be a large city, became famous for its rejection of slavery and racial progression.

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With abolitionists like Frederik Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, Rochester earned a reputation for being a safe haven for many African Americans seeking equal opportunity. Spurring from these foundational beliefs, the education offered in the city school district of Rochester was inclusive for students of all walks of life. With a surging middle class and equal opportunity workforce, Rochester City Schools began to grow in the early 1960's due to the aftermath of the baby boom. Opening schools that offered more than your traditional education, some schools city schools were designated to the studies in law, the arts, and technologies.

By doing so, the limits that past minority graduates felt when entering the workforce were diminished by extreme amounts. It almost seemed that as the Rochester City School district continued to prosper, so too did the communities around it. With such affordable and successful schooling, families began moving within the district in order to ensure their children enrolment. Promising futures and the chance to earn the opportunity to continue schooling into college inspired academic excellence within the classrooms.

Yet with such an infusion of minority students into these classrooms, white students who attended a Rochester City School were no longer the majority race. While becoming the minority within the walls of their schools in no way affected the learning environment, it did however begin to stir up unease had by some locals. Yet with so much of Rochester's minority student population attending schools in the city, a racial disconnection between city students and white suburban students was developing. As a result, those in the city legislation teamed up with the local school districts to find ways to build a bridge between city and suburban students. So in 1970, Rochester introduced the "Urban - Suburban” plan as a way to combat the lack of diversity amongst schools. On paper, the idea of diversifying suburban schools with top students from city schools seemed as though it was a winning situation for both parties. With suburban schools receiving higher amounts of funding, the education they offered was looked at as superior. Therefore, the fact that this program would offer city students a better education while also diversifying public schools seemed as though it created a winning scenario for both parties.

However, what I feel the city forgot to take into account was the fact that a portion of their most highly motivated and successful students would be leaving the district. Although it meant that they would be receiving more educational opportunities, it also left the city without some their top tier students. While the danger for city schools wasn't in the students who were successful leaving, it was formed from the attitudes of those who lived within the city school district. With so many bright students leaving, many families and taxpayers worried that their efforts to sustain successful city schooling were beginning to fall short. They felt as though a decline in the number of motivated and successful students would then rub off onto the remaining students. Therefore, some of the excitement for this program became overshadowed by Rochester residents beginning to develop a sense of worry about their city schools. In a 1971-1972 report done by Frances Dyke, he evaluated the schools, and assessed the future successes of the program.

Through interviews and studies, he was able to determine the reactions of parents from both the city and public school districts. “Parents of urban children readily expressed their support... although the reason for the transfer was not reduction of racial isolation, but the obtaining of better educational opportunities for the children" (Dyke 115). Even though this program seemed to be beneficial in so many ways, the response of the people shows that this was not seen as a cure for all the racial problems. This means that at the time of this program racial isolation between the minorities in the city schools and the whites in the public schools was not being dealt with proactively. By not worrying enough about the importance or racial equality, those who worked to set up this program unknowingly facilitated the chance for future problems. Even with top tier students leaving for the public school system, the Rochester city schools continued to produce successful academic and graduation rates.

With an influx of African American teachers through project unique, many minority students were able to relate to their teachers and find comfort at school (Schwartz 12). In order to sustain state funding, the Rochester City School District took measures to ensure even greater academic achievement with the introduction of International Baccalaureate programs into selected schools. Now minority students would get equivalent if not greater amounts of academic exposure given to the students in the surrounding schools. However, much of the prosperity of this new International Baccalaureate program came with the fear of a lack of funding. A fear that would soon come to fruition, and lead to the greatest decline in the history of the city school district. When the recession of the early 90's combined with the rampant drug use in the city of Rochester, inner city youth became this tragedies greatest victim. "With crime influencing the youth community, high school students began falling down the dangerous path of incrimination that their declining neighborhoods laid out for them" (Vargas). With young high school men and women beginning to commit crime, the city of Rochester could no longer focus their attention on schooling. Even worse, these crimes that were committed by students effectively brought crime into the classroom.

A city that now hold the 5th highest crime per capita rate, the path that lead to this atrocity began here. With fewer top tier students to set examples, city high school students were now being influenced by the crimes of their fellow classmates. As a result of this challenging test of loyalty, it became a trend that students who held bright futures became mixed and influenced by the wrong people. Once the city district began to struggle with drugs in their classrooms and a decline in classroom discipline, those on the outside began to lose faith in the city schools. Taxpayers challenged the efficiency of their tax dollars while others questioned the safety of sending their children to one of these schools.

While this didn't have a major effect on enrollment, it did however bring into question whether or not the city school budget should be reduced. With performance levels in the schools going down, many people who lived within the district began to feel as though the taxes they paid towards the schools were going to waste. While this may have seemed like a monetary issue, the idea that locals were losing faith in their schools was the bigger picture at hand. Rochester city schools were beginning to put themselves in a dangerous position, and were now drifting away from the strong foundation they had built as a successful school district. “Now with a population of roughly 35,000 students, nearly 90 percent live in poverty, compared to the 16 percent in suburban schools” (Jones). Unlike the help that the majority white populated public schools would have received during a decline, the city schools were left to dry. Many justified their lack of care and their demand to cut funding by labeling city schools as unproductive.

“The fact that less than half of the 35,000 students will graduate has not been seen as a place to start the aid but instead as an excuse to not give it”(Ducan). The minority students that filled the classrooms were not offered alternatives because they were seen as “risky students.” So with the inability to afford the luxury of moving out of the city and into the public school districts, many students became trapped in a volatile environment. It no longer became about fostering the success of the inner city minority youth because they weren't seen as worth our efforts. Instead it became about re-allocating funds to help support the successful public schools, and all the accolades that they brought to Rochester. Yet if these city schools were attended by underprivileged whites, the fight that the city would put up in order to save these schools would be endless. Sadly city students are not taught this, and the lessons they are leaving their time in school with have them on the short end of racial tensions. It is this insecurity towards inner city minority students that will foster generation after generation of racial tensions in the city of Rochester.