- If you've ever taken a U.S. history class, you've most likely seen photos like these. Ones that might give the impression that school segregation used to be big problem and then we took care of it, and now it's a thing of the past. Today America's school age population is more racially diverse than ever before, and that all might lead you to assume that America's classrooms are a whole lot more mixed than they used to be, progress right? There's been all these stories in the news that basically say that schools are actually getting more racially segregated. - The most recent data shows the average white student goes to a school that's more than 70% white. - [Male] The study ordered by Congress found the percentage of high-poverty schools with mostly Black or Hispanic students has more than doubled since 2000. - So what's the real story here? Okay, first a super quick history lesson, hang with me. It's been more than 60 years since Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court decision that tossed out the argument that schools could be racially separate but still equal. It was pretty obvious that conditions in Black schools were almost always much worse than in white ones. The court made a unanimous decision that Black students were being denied a quality education and made school segregation policies illegal. Problem solved, right? Actually not right away. A lot of white communities in the south fiercely resisted the new rules for years. - And I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever. - It wasn't until about a decade later when federal courts literally forced districts to de-segregate that things started to change. Southern schools really started to integrate in the 1970's and 80's because of new programs like cross-district busing that brought a mix of kids from different communities to the same schools. In 1968, more than three quarters of all Black students in the south attended hyper-segregated schools. 20 years later, that rate had dropped to less than a quarter of all students. There are lots of historical studies showing that this change had an overwhelming positive impact on Black student achievement, with pretty much no negative impacts for white students. But not everyone was happy with a more racially integrated school system. A new generation of conservative judges rejected the idea that the federal government should be in the business of forcing local schools to integrate. Districts throughout the south and some in the north too, begin to drop their controversial busing programs, which many community members had rebelled against for years. There were other factors too, including what's called white flight, when a large number of mostly white middle-class communities move from urban areas to the suburbs. The result, there's been a massive drop in the number of schools that have a balanced mix of students who are white and students who are Black and Latino. According to a study by UCLA's Civil Rights Project, the number of hyper-segregated public schools across the country, those with pretty much no white students, has tripled. This re-segregation trend has been the most dramatic in the south, but before you northern liberals get too high and mighty, you should know that segregation is actually worse in the north. In fact, the states with the highest rates of school segregation are almost all northern left-leaning ones, like New York, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, and yes, even California. So in other words, forced segregation is still against the law. A school can't reject a student just because of the color of his skin, but without being aggressively pushed to integrate, many communities are still self-segregating. Some local activists see this as natural change, "It's not a racial thing," they argue, it's about parents from diverse backgrounds wanting the best for their kids, and that means going to a neighborhood school that they don't have to take a long bus ride to get to, and where they'll be with other kids from their community. It'd be one thing they say, if a kid was prohibited from attending a school just because of the color of his skin, but those days are long gone. Now they say it's about choice and the government shouldn't be in the business of making kids shlep across town just for the sake of diversity. Diversity advocates argue that what's going on here is a major step backwards in the fight for racial equality. For one they say, diverse schools have a positive influence on all students, both white and minority. It makes students more comfortable with diversity, reduces prejudices and stereotypes, and better prepares then for success in the real world. And studies have repeatedly shown that segregated schools have a disproportionately negative impact for low-income Black and Latino students. These students are more likely to attend schools where the majority of their classmates are poor, and these school generally have fewer resources, less experienced teachers, and lower rates of achievement. And all of that can have long-term effects, influencing everything from the chances of graduating from high school and going to college to getting a higher paying job. So, what do you think? How diverse is your school? And how's that affected your education? Let us know in the comments below, and if you like this video, be sure to check out this other one we did on immigration and this one gerrymandering. Thanks for watching.