Filling the “opportunity gap” for students across the United States was the main focus at the state’s capital Tuesday when U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made a stop on his 10-day education bus tour in Topeka.
Duncan was the keynote speaker at Monroe Elementary, the historic site of the famous Brown V. Board of Education lawsuit that ended segregation in the nation’s schools.
“One of the most amazing, extraordinary opportunities in my job is being able to visit hallowed grounds like this,” Duncan said. “I get to stand in the footsteps of giants who fought and won battles for equal education opportunity.”
The principal of what was once ranked as being one of the lowest performing schools, Dr. Beryl New, also spoke.
Equal opportunity and Monroe Elementary are two sentiments near to her heart because she, too, attended Monroe for three years and was turned away from surrounding schools because of her skin color.
New attested to the opportunity gap Duncan is trying to close because she has not only had first-hand experience with segregation as a young child but is the principal of a school with high minority enrollment.
Duncan, former head of the Chicago school system, spoke on education and the progress the nation still needs to undergo to become truly equal.
“As a nation, America has absolutely made enormous strides in race relations since Brown V. Board of Education, yet everyone here knows we still have so far to go,” he said. “Moving up to the American dream of providing people with equal education opportunity for all.”
Duncan drew a comparison of what Linda Brown and her father Oliver faced at Monroe Elementary in the 1950s. He reminded people in the audience that ordinary people can make an extraordinary difference.
“Not even the supreme court can make equal opportunity a reality on the ground, in schools, in classrooms and in our hearts and in our minds,” Duncan said. “Brown V. Board is not just a part of our history, it has to be part of our future.”
Duncan argued that segregation is still prevalent in the nation’s school system, and schools are more segregated than at any time since the death of Dr. Martin Luther King.
“Nearly 40 percent of black and Hispanic students attend schools where more than 90 percent of students are non-white,” Duncan said. This creates an opportunity and achievement gap that is “too often unacceptably wide.”
Duncan stressed the importance of a good education in a “knowledge-based economy” and by not giving all students equal opportunity it is hindering students who will later look into attaining a college degree or applying for a job.
Duncan remembered when he was younger finding a job didn’t always mean needing a college degree. It might not have been the best job, but it was decent with a decent pay, he said. That is no longer true.
