Supreme Court decision

The June 28, 2007, U.S. Supreme Court decision that determined public school systems cannot take "explicit account" of a student's race to achieve or maintain diversity in their enrollment troubles me.

Some people protest the justices' decision on the basis of funding. Supporting schools through property taxes ensures that poorer communities will always be at a disadvantage. I dislike that. It's unfair.

But what hurts my heart is that the Court's decision deprives our country of a means of promoting diversity and cultural awareness.

My first year of college, one of my classmates was from a small rural community. He told me in his 18 years of life, he'd "only ever met half of a black person." There are so many things wrong with that statement. For purposes of this blog, I'll focus on just one. I'm dismayed that, in a country that publicly boasts of its cultural diversity, privately people can come from communities that never experience diversity and we're OK with that.

Perhaps using race as a factor in determining student body make up isn't the right solution. But I don't think as a country we should stop looking for a way to bring our diverse cultures together. If only so that one day no one will be able to say anything remotely like, "I've only ever met half of a (fill in the ethnicity) person."

What are your thoughts on this topic?

Patricia