In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark Supreme Court case that would end public school segregation. Over fifty years later, studies have shown segregation has increased in the public school system. Currently, public schools have seen an escalation in segregation according to a report released by Richard Rothstein of the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute (Strauss, 2013). Three additional reports related to public school segregation have also been released. This increase in segregation could have detrimental effects on the U.S. multiracial society’s success (Strauss, 2013). The study conducted by Richard Rothstein was conducted in 2012 and has now received both international and national media attention.
Segregation is defined as “separation of racial or ethnic groups in order for the dominate group to maintain social distance” (Henslin, 2011). In this case the dominant group is white students. A dominate group is defined as “a group with power regardless of the numbers associated with the group” (Henslin, 2011). Segregation has been growing based on both race and poverty. “Fifteen percent of black students and fourteen percent of Latino students attend “apartheid schools” across the nation in which whites make up zero to one percent of the enrollment” (Strauss, 2013). Previous studies conducted in the 1970s have shown four out of five students in the U.S. were white. Now in particular areas (South and West) students of color are the predominate race (Strauss, 2013).
Social stratification is defined as “a system in which groups of people are divided into layers according to their relative property, power and prestige” (Henslin, 2011). It is evident based on this article social stratification is affecting how public schools have become segregated. Those families with enough money and or property are no longer sending their children to