Separate and Not Equal: Michigan School Limits Field Trip To Black Students

Mike Madison, the principal of Dicken Elementary School in Ann Arbor, Mich., is under fire for a field trip to visit a rocket scientist that was limited to black students. He insisted that he was just trying to improve the lower performance of black students through the special race-based program.

In a letter to parents, Madison wrote “In hindsight, this field trip could have been approached and arranged in a better way.” However, he insisted that “[i]t was not a wasted venture for I know one day they might want to aspire to be the first astronaut or scientist standing on the Planet Mars.” It could also inspire some less admirable interests like racial segregation and discrimination. Of course, he could go with the Louisiana’s approach and just eliminate Fs generally, here.

Not one is questioning the good intentions of Madison but the road to segregation can be paved with good intentions. There is a trend toward segregation in our schools, for prior columns click here and here.

For the story, click here.