Space Around the Table: Stably Integrated Schools and the Hope of American Meritocracy

Public education in the United States is increasingly serving poorer segments of the nations citizenry and this will have devastating effects on future growth and productivity. High-concentrations of low-SES students within schools have been found to significantly reduce the achievements of all students in those schools. A review of the literature, in addition to case studies, was used in order to highlight the role that access to various forms of capital within a school has on determining educational outcomes. Integrating public schools based on SES as opposed to race has been explored as a potential alternative to reforming failing schools given Supreme Court legislation that effectively nullifies race from being utilized to desegregated schools. \ud Socioeconomically integrated schools are those that have a mixture of students from various SES levels. This form of integration has been found to improve the achievements of low-SES students without detracting from those coming from high-SES families. Given the correlation between increasing years of schooling and an individuals expected earnings, in order to enter the middle-class today, American’s need a college degree. Choosing to live in a specific neighborhood around quality schools, for instance, is just one of the effects that manifest due to the gaps in access to capital between those with and without college degrees. With SES integration, all students, regardless of their background, would have an opportunity to increase their achievements in low-poverty schools and thus have an opportunity to increase their chances of admittance and persistence through college, which could ultimately allow for universally realizable upward mobility