Talk:Segregation academies

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[edit] Not just Virginia

• May I suggest expanding this article to include information about parallel phenomena in the rest of the south? Here is one newspaper article about similar schools in Alabama [1] --Dystopos 23:08, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Done.--Alabamaboy 15:42, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Very Offensive Entry!

This article implies that any private school started during this era was created as a haven for biggots, and that any person whose children attended such a school sent them there because they were biggots. This is not true and very offensive and insulting.

As one of those children, I know from first-hand experience exactly why I was sent to one of those schools. It had little to do with the race issues involved with desegregation. This was court-ordered desegregation that was imposed on the public school system over an extremely short period of time. In theory, mixing the racial and socioeconomic groups was a good idea. In practice, it created absolute havoc.

The sudden clash of the suburban whites with inner city blacks created many problems that were prominently covered in local newspapers and watched carefully by parents everywhere. Those who cared and could afford the cost, sent their children to safer schools. Of course, some were biggots, but most simply wanted a better education for their children.

There were violent attacks on students. The daughter of the police chief was raped in the bathroom with a plunger handle. We know this directly from the man himself. He had sent his daughter to public school to make an example for everyone else to send their children as well. This is how they were rewarded.

Children who had almost no interaction with minorities were suddenly immersed in "black studies." There was entirely too much emphasis on this type of thing. The text books included Malcom X and other "radicals" of the day in a very biased manner. No other races were featured in the texts. Children were told that their parents did not know what they were talking about and they should not listen to them. It all appeared to be a particularly sloppy job of social engineering.

The methods of transportation were chaotic. Children as young as five years old were placed on city buses (not school buses) with no chaperones or other adults caring for them. My mother rode some of these buses to see what was happening. She found a tiny little black girl crying in hysterics because she had no idea where she was going or what to do. Imagine putting such a small child on a public bus by herself. If given a choice, what parent allow this to happen?

These are but a few examples of the things that motivated parents to send their children to private schools. When the demand was recognized, many new schools were created. Many of them were created by churches since buildings already existed where classes could be held.

It was many years before the public school system settled down to something like normalcy, but it was never the same again. Academic standards faltered. Running in the halls and chewing gum were replaced with drugs and knives. I am very grateful that my parents cared enough about me to make sacrifices to send me to a private school. It could very well have saved my life. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Virginiasurvivor (talk • contribs) 19:43, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia does not exist as a sounding board for anyone's personal opinion toward the morality of segregation, African American studies, or even the existence of private schools or to pass judgement upon any school's leadership, academics, or policies in the past or present. It does, however, exist to document facts, and the fact remains that during the time period of desegregation, many schools were established in the Southern U.S. with disproportionately high populations of white students. It was a phenomena that was observed and noted then, and the remains of these programs can still be observed today. Regarldess of how much it offends you, the fact still stands that this did occur, it was widespread, and it is worthy of being documented. Your offense would best be directed at those who implemented those programs rather than those who seek to document their existence for posterity. --Teliwhy (talk) 18:34, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Citations

I do not see any citations backing up the assertion that the liusted academies are segregation academies. I know they are, but that is not the point, we need citations for such assertions. If no citations are provided, I will remove the list of academies. Chrislk02 ^{Chris Kreider} 14:34, 30 April 2008 (UTC)