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Knowing Where You Come from

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Submitted By brandonnrani
Words 903
Pages 4
Robert B. Johnson
EDU 210
August 17, 2013
<Instructor>

Knowing where you come from.
Marcus Garvey once said a people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. If education is that tree, constantly growing and sprouting leaves, then we must know our roots so we can keep this tree strong. Education has come so far over the course of time, and though constantly evolving, has seen many adversities. Overcoming segregation, culture diversity, and the struggle to implement programs that create equality, shows the desire to build a better future. However, have we truly learned from our problems of the past or are we headed to a state of regression?
It’s no secret that our nation is built on a dark history of slavery and segregation. However, the second the first slave owner taught his slaves English to better communication and increase productivity, he also inspired the desire to learn and sparked a flame of change. Though this change was on the rise the need for segregation was still enforced. In 1892 Homer Plessy a Creole man who could easily pass for white, sat in a white’s only car of the east Louisiana Railroad and proclaimed his was African American. Plessy was arrested for his actions, and in 1896 his case was made that the law which stated separation as long as equal was unjust and went against the 13th and 14th amendment. Unknown at the time his arrest would pave the way for a major educational change (Womer, 2002). Plessy’s case addressed a very serious issue as it showed that Whites reserved the best for themselves and left the scraps for African American’s, so how in fact was anything equal? This question would way heavy on the minds of many and would open major flood gates. In 1931 Robert Alvarez would fight for educational equality in the Lemon Grove school district and would successful desegregate the school district gaining equality for Mexican American’s (Alvarez jr, 1986). However, it would be 1954-1955 that need for desegregating education entirely would gain notice nationally. Five cases of racial segregation would gain the notice of the NAACP and would put pressure on the supreme court to change the laws. The cases which would all come to be known as brown vs. the board of education was enough to show that separate was not equal, and change laws to give true equality (NPS, 2013). Though education had come a long way overcoming racial segregation and inequality there were still educational barriers that held people back. In 1974 the issue would be addressed in San Francisco, California that ending segregation was not enough. Though students of all race and creed were now allowed to attend their school of choice, new issues arose with non-English speakers not having the same educational opportunities as everyone else. The case Known as Lau vs. Nichols which would start as a local fight to bridge the language barrier for all Chinese students, would eventually gain national attention and show the need for special language programs for all non-english speaking students (Find Law, 2013). It seemed as if education had finally started to take a step in the right direction, however there was still so much to work out. In 1975 Congress would pass the Education for all Handicapped Children Act, or better Known as Public Law 94-142. This act would ensure that schools could no longer exclude children with disabilities. This Act evolved into The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or more commonly known as I.D.E.A. The act would ensure children with special needs would receive a free appropriate public education, no different from other children. Under I.D.E.A students would be given either an Individual education program (IEP) or a 504, and these plans are set to even the playing field for all students with special needs. This would take education to the point of almost full inclusion (Pardini, 2013). We started as a nation of free thinkers who wanted to overcome adversity, and though our start was rough to say the least, we have positioned ourselves to do just that. I think that education is a constant evolving process, and with its growth and development there will be many changes. However, if we remember where we came from and all it took to get us here we will continue to progress and flourish. I think we still have a long way to go, but I don’t think we will allow for any steps back in our educational growth, because history has proven we are great advocates for our future.

Wormser, Richard (2002). Jim Crow Stories: Plessy V. Ferguson
Retrieved from: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_plessy.html
Alvarez jr, Robert (1986) The Lemon Grove Incident, The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY Spring 1986, Volume 32, Number 2
Retrieved from: http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/86spring/lemongrove.htm
National Park Services (2013) History & Culture: Brown v. Board of Education
Retrieved from: http://www.nps.gov/brvb/historyculture/index.htm
Find Law. Com (2013) Lau v. Nichols
Retrieved from: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=414&invol=563
Pardini, Prisilla (2013) History of Special Education
Retrieved From: http://www.rethinkingschools.org/restrict.asp?path=archive/16_03/Hist163.shtml

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