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Questions answered in this forum: How can positive relations be established? What does the increasing segregation of schools mean for future race relations? Do you think continued efforts to desegregate schools will further better economic success? What role do black institutions have in allowing blacks to flourish? NewsHour Coverage August 18, 1997: Does California's ban on affirmative action hurt diversity? July 3, 1997: Online Forum: Ask the President's advisory panel about the national initiative. February 18, 1997: In 1960, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges Hall became the first African American child to desegregate an elementary school. Browse the Online NewsHour's coverage of race relations. Outside Links Central High School

A question from Susan Lacefield of Charlottesville, VA: Is school the critical place where ideas about race are formed? William Winter, former Governor of Mississippi responds: Our schools must be places where students not only learn how to make a living but also how to live together. This is more important now than it was forty years ago, because our world has gotten smaller and our nation has grown more racially diverse. In fact America is the most diverse democracy in the world, but it must also be a democracy united by shared values. Vital to this process is an educational system that has student bodies that are truly representative of that diversity. Only in that way will our young people have an opportunity for the life experiences that will prepare them to live confidently in this complex and economically demanding world. Racial diversity can reap great benefits. First, a racially diverse student body can improve teaching and learning by exposing students to different perspectives and experiences. Persons of different races often have different cultural backgrounds. They also often have different experiences in the world and, in turn, often view the world differently. Imagine studying such topics as the Civil War, the proper role of law enforcement in society, or the U.S. Constitution in a racially homogenous environment. Clearly we learn more when we all learn together. Furthermore, although the resource of educational diversity has been largely underutilized in our schools, substantial evidence indicates that desegregated schools have positive effects on minority student achievement and do not negatively affect the achievement of non-minority students. Christopher Edley, Law Professor at Harvard responds: It is difficult to say whether school is the critical place, given the influences of family, neighborhood, church, television, and other mass media. But it is seems to me that school is the single most promising arena for making a positive change in society's current direction. Here's why: I believe that the critical ingredient of progress is creating a richer, more inclusive sense of community – the set of people to whom you feel connected, about whom you care. In the next century, our nation will fail as an experiment in democratic diversity unless we become far better at caring about people who are different from ourselves. Many people can't be taught to care by listening to a lecture, reading a book, watching a film, hearing a sermon, or reading a lawyer's legal brief. Some can, but many can't. For most people, I suspect, you care because you've had experiences that have taught you about our shared humanity, our shared dreams. Children may have the clarity of heart to live and learn those experiences. We must give them the chance. And – forgive my drippy sentiment -- we must do so because we love them, and because we love the idea of America. It's that simple. Questions answered in this forum: How can positive relations be established? What does the increasing segregation of schools mean for future race relations? Do you think continued efforts to desegregate schools will further better economic success? What role do black institutions have in allowing blacks to flourish?     REGIONS TOPICS RECENT PROGRAMS ABOUT US FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS / FEEDS:             Support the kind of journalism done by the NewsHour...Become a member of your local PBS station. PBS Online Privacy Policy Copyright ©1996- MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. All Rights Reserved.