A disturbing thought occurs to Akilah Alleyne as she watches parents and politicians across the country fight to control what schools are teaching America’s children.
Is the U.S. entering a new era of segregated schools, she wonders?
“A lot of people don’t want to call it that,” said Alleyne, an education expert at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning research and public advocacy group based in Washington.
But it’s not a preposterous conclusion.
Education policy experts warn that efforts to keep certain books out of the classroom or ban the teaching of sensitive topics such as race and gender risk turning back the clock to a time when segregated schools meant separate – and vastly unequal – forums for learning.
