#445: The Failed Promise of Brown
Also: Should you quit therapy? And: Is it OK to choose the sex of your baby?
Hi Loyal Readers. We had another swell of new subscribers this week, which makes me very happy. Welcome, and I hope you feel home here at Article Club.
If you weren’t paying attention this week, or if you were distracted by the many things on the Internet designed to distract us (I won’t mention examples), you might have missed that the landmark Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, turned 70 years old.
Brown’s birthday prompted me to reflect on the promise of education and the state of our society. As someone who has worked in schools for many years, I still believe that classrooms filled with talented teachers and young people from diverse backgrounds can help us build a better, less racist, and more equitable world.
But over the years, I have come to acknowledge that my perspective is limited. While some people may wish for school integration as an ideal, others focus on the reality that we’re a deeply segregated society. Brown may have been a dream for some people at some point of our history, but it’s time to move on from integration.
If you care about public education, I encourage you to read this week’s lead article, “Seventy Years of Abandonment: The Failed Promise of Brown v. Board,” by Teachers College professor Bettina Love. I’d love to hear if the piece challenges your thinking or affirms it.
Not interested in reading a critique of our public education system and our society at large? Here are a couple more articles to check out. They’re about:
📚 All right, it’s time to get to the articles. If an article moved you, or elicited a strong reaction, I encourage you to share your perspective. Hit reply or leave a comment.
1️⃣ The Failed Promise of Brown v. Board
On the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board, Dr. Bettina Love speaks plainly and directly. Here are three excerpts from her powerful piece:
“What children of color have endured since the 1954 ruling is a resistance so powerful, so pervasive, and full of white rage that it has created a public school system that is separate and unequal by design to not only appease white dissent but to ensure a racial caste. Seventy years after Brown, public schools across the country are still deeply segregated and unequal.”
“If this nation is going to outright refuse integration through every possible personal, political, and legislative measure, then Black people must demand this country revisit the separate but equal doctrine. Centuries have taught us that we cannot force this country to live up to the promise of integration.”
“Our schools are separate, and most white Americans appear unwilling to integrate them based on the evidence. So, if separate is the reality for millions of Black and brown students for the foreseeable future, the demand needs to be for reparations.”
By Bettina Love • Education Week • 4 min • Gift Link
2️⃣ Maybe You Shouldn’t Talk To Someone
“Sometime in the past decade or so,” writes Melissa Dahl, “my friends started talking about going to therapy like going to the gym: as a nonnegotiable healthy habit you’re supposed to keep forever.” After all, why bother your friends and family with your problems when you can pay hundreds of dollars to pay a professional?
But recently, something changed, Ms. Dahl writes. In her sessions, she would bring up the same issues. Her therapist would offer the same advice. Ms. Dahl was tired of talking about herself. So she quit. She wonders, Have I done the right thing?
It turns out, many people are quitting therapy. The question is why. Is it because therapy doesn’t work long-term? Or because it’s too expensive? Or is it something deeper — that now that we’re finally caring about mental health in a substantive way, we have to retreat? Where there is progress, do we need to regress?
By Melissa Dahl • The Cut • 8 mins • Gift Link
3️⃣ The Parents Who Want Daughters Only
In most countries, if you’re having a baby through in vitro fertilization, you can’t choose the sex of your child. Here in the United States, that’s different. If you have the means, you can walk into most clinics and say you want a daughter, even if you have no problems with fertility.
In this well-reported piece, Emi Nietfeld explores the ethical considerations of sex selection and follows prospective parents who want to engineer their families. For example, you’ll meet 31-year-old Grace, who can’t even think of having a boy. She says, “It’s almost a repulsion, like, Oh my God, no,” she says.
Their reasons for preferring girls are many. Among them: boys are trouble; there’s already too much toxic masculinity in the world; having a daughter would combat systemic inequities; they would have a tighter bond with a girl.
But isn’t there something wrong with this? Ms. Nietfeld asks.
By Emi Nietfeld • Slate • 13 min • Gift Link
4️⃣ It’s time for a poll! 🙋🏽
I’ve been noticing lately that more of you are reading the articles in the newsletter. This gets me thinking why. One reason might be that I’m including pieces that are shorter in length, just to mix things up. Do you like this? Let’s see.
💬 Chat update: Tuesday’s experimental text thread chat about “Are White Women Better Now?” did not gain traction, so let’s put that idea on pause for a moment. If you have ideas for non-Zoom ways for us to connect and discuss articles, let me know!
Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀
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This week it was the sex selection article that got me most. I don't think I like a world where this legal.
The program wouldn't allow me to vote on article length, but 20-30 minutes is great!