Samuel Francis

Integration—particularly school integration—is a failed social policy, columnist Samuel Francis argues in the following viewpoint. The Supreme Court decision to desegregate public schools in 1954 led to the busing of students to schools outside of their own neighborhoods. Although it was intended to foster racial harmony and to improve education for black children, Francis writes, mandatory integration only created more racial polarization as whites moved to the suburbs to avoid the influx of blacks to formerly white city schools. Many blacks, moreover, feel insulted by the notion that their children need to go to school with whites in order to succeed. Francis maintains that each race should be allowed to pursue its own self-defined goals.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Francis, did black student performance improve after...