Students at McCaskey East High School in Lancaster, Pa. are part of a project, which separates students for six minutes each day, by race, gender and language. School officials initiated the pilot program to support school research that reported that black students who are grouped by gender with a strong role model, have higher self-esteem and perform better academically. Critics oppose the plan, calling it segregation. Do you think this is a form of segregation and why?
“I think people’s initial reactions are to think back to the 1960s, people were divided by race because they thought that certain races were superior to others. For this, it sounds like it’s more of an experiment where they want to see how it goes. Who knows, it might be a good thing. They might do better and learn at the same pace. But it depends on the person. Maybe they’re just more comfortable with people of their own race, sometimes.” Johnnie Chi, second-year medical student
“I believe it’s a form of segregation. I believe everybody should be equal. Once you start separating race, that is segregation. It is bringing back segregation. People need to be equal. Whether someone is black, Asian or white, they should be in the same class and have the same teacher. There shouldn’t be a separation.” Dana Merise, first-year masters in human resources
“Of course. I mean they’re separating people according to their race. That shouldn’t be a separating factor. I’m really surprised that that’s actually legal.” Daryoosh Derakhshan, second-year medical student
“Definitely. It’s definitely segregating people according to their race. And even if people don’t have any previous bias or anything, you’re kind of telling them that this is the way it should be. You could come from a non-segregated home and then go to school and you’re segregated there. It’s going to confuse you.” Laura Villafane, sophomore biology major
“That is segregation. That’s not how the world is. The schools that allow only girls or only boys and don’t allow them to interact with each other. That’s what this school is doing but with race and gender. It’s not going to prepare them to interact with people who are different from them.” Giovanna Basmagi, senior psychology major
“Yeah I do. No matter how long the time is that you put the student according to [their race or gender], it’s still segregation.” Rebeca Garcia-Carranza, freshman biology major
