Integrations: The Struggle for Racial Equality and Civic Renewal in Public Education
Lawrence Blum (University of Massachusetts Boston)

05.30 – 07.00 PM (GMT)
Via Zoom (*Note that we will use the same Zoom link for the entire term. You can also find this in the programme for the term, and you can also email for the link).

Further inquiries: alison.brady.14@ucl.ac.uk  All are welcome.

The paper is attached here.  Participants are invited to read pages 93-104, 106-111 and 118-126. Each of the selected portions has a sub-section beginning and end on the page noted.

I discuss a new co-authored book, the talk’s title. I argue that separation (often misleadingly called “segregation”) has been wrongly seen as the prime cause of educational inequality. I argue that the intertwining of white supremacy and extreme economic inequality is the major source of educational inequality, and that initiatives and movements for educational inequality must ally with racial and economic justice movements in the society more generally. Integration purely by itself bears a very weak relationship to educational equality, as the African American tradition of “egalitarian pluralism” emphasizes. However, school integration is still of great (potential) civic educational value.

Lawrence Blum is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He works in race studies, philosophy of education, and social and political philosophy. He is the author of “I’m Not a Racist, But…”: The Moral Quandary of Race (2002), which was selected best social philosophy book of the year by the North American Society of Social Philosophy; and High Schools, Race, and America’s Future (2012), based on a course on race and racism he taught for 4 semesters at his very racially and ethnically mixed local high school.
 

* Please note that this seminar series is run by academics on an entirely voluntary and unpaid basis, on top of existing teaching and other work commitments.  While we endeavour to make these events as inclusive and welcoming as possible, we cannot undertake any extra work regarding the presentation, dissemination or planning of the talks or make adjustments to the existing programme.