Sai Kulkarni ‘23
Culture Editor
On March 2, CARE at UVA Law hosted an event with three distinguished scholars and advocates to discuss the role of education, citizenship, and diversity in fighting back against the problems that led to the insurrection on January 6, 2021. Professors Erika Wilson of the University of North Carolina School of Law and Rachel Moran of University of California, Irvine School of Law, as well as Mr. David Hinojosa of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, framed the discussion by focusing on how school lines creating de facto segregation can lead to events like that of January 6th. Our own Professor Kimberly Robinson was a fantastic moderator, who introduced plenty of important points of her own.
Speakers pictured from laft to right: Erika Wilson (Photo Curtesy of https://law.unc.edu/people/erika-k-wilson/), Rachel Moran (Photo Curtesy of https://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/moran/), David Hinojosa (Photo Curtesy of https:// lawyerscommittee.org/staff/david-hinojosa/).
Before going any further, I want to note that the talk was both highly informative and interesting. The event lasted an hour, but I ended up with over four pages of notes because I wanted to make sure I noted all of the essential points they were making. I came away from the event more educated and with a desire to take a class from Professor Robinson in the future.
The discussion was focused on the idea of a “shared fate” between all Americans: the idea that we are all in this together and helping our fellow citizens is key to our success as a nation. All of the panelists pointed to the breakdown of this concept, with educational segregation as a major cause behind the divisions and hatred leading to the insurrection (and broader society today). Each panelist presented a number of problems and solutions initially, followed by a brief Q&A session. Rather than attempting to cover all of the numerous issues presented by the panelists, I think focusing on the main ideas proposed by each, along with their proposed solutions, will give readers the best taste of the event.
Mr. Hinojosa opened with the idea that learning together helps kids understand, respect, and accept one another’s differences. He focused on the dual problems of re-segregation and the lack of proper civic engagement in schools. He pointed out that we are not only re-segregating schools by site location, but by housing, transportation, and school choice as well. Essentially, private and charter schools are allowed to self-segregate; even schools that are targeted at one group (i.e., Black students) perpetuate segregation through isolation. Mr. Hinojosa also noted that increasing school funding won’t solve everything. Better state laws outlining support for civic education are needed. High stakes testing drives what is being taught, so pulling back from that approach can promote the kind of educational and civic engagement needed to re-assert the idea of a shared fate.
Professor Moran of UCI focused on racial inequities in education and how the education system is unequipped for the age of disinformation. Racial inequity, she pointed out, prevents students from becoming active participants in our democracy. Students with fewer resources are not given the help needed to earn good paying jobs, relegating them to the margins of the economy and politics. Professor Moran argued that even the kids who “escape” segregated schools [she used this descriptor with clear reservations] are denied access to social networks enjoyed by some of their classmates, which can be stepstones to the middle class.
With regards to the other problem, she points out that the pandemic showed how inept the schools are for the social media age. There is no discussion about educating consumers about the information on social media. The inability to discern between fact and lies on the internet was a major contributing factor to the insurrection. Thus, she advocated for including discussions of important issues into the curriculum. Professor Moran even proposed having Big Tech enter into classrooms to teach about both private and public information (especially on data mining and privacy) and educate students to be better producers of content.
Professor Wilson focused on the opposite side of school segregation and the entitlement it creates. She pointed out that segregation concentrates advantage by creating predominantly white and affluent schools. Symbolic messaging, she emphasized, is important. The idea that in a racially diverse area there are stratified, segregated schools can foment a feeling of entitlement, winners, and losers due to the allocation of resources. The racial isolation and economic isolation create a segmented society with some idea of a hierarchy and harms the idea of the “shared fate.” It prevents us from focusing on the needs of children collectively and keeps parents focused on the needs of only their own child.
Inequality skews more privileged people towards their own view of where they belong in a democracy, and leads them to support voter suppression (and participate in events like the insurrection). Professor Wilson’s idea of a practical solution is based on her research in school district lines: she wants to eliminate the commitment to community funding and boundaries. More succinctly, she wants more creative funding mechanisms and to get away from property taxes being the main funding source for schools.
The three panelists brought up a lot of important ideas when thinking about how education can play a role in the divisions that underlie our society. In the Q&A session, they discussed how interschool tracking (AP kids vs. non-AP kids) and charter school funding mechanisms can also undermine the “shared faith idea.”
I admit that the vast majority of this article was me recounting the findings and proposals of these esteemed scholars. Unlike the vast majority of what I’ve written for the Law Weekly, there are no hot takes to be written here. The sad reality is that we are at a time of deep division and educational segregation. Though schools are no longer under the official policies defeated by Brown v. Board, we still find ourselves separated from one another at a young age due to administrative workarounds. The two problems of civic disengagement and school boundaries causing de facto segregation are intertwined. I hope my fellow law students, who will shape the policies of tomorrow, take the discussion I distilled above and internalize it. Reshaping how we approach curriculum, funding, and the boundaries of education could be essential to the future of our Republic.
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omk6cg@virginia.edu