Inequalities and the Schooling of Minority Students in Texas: Historical and Contemporary Conditions

In the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills case, the State argued that the differences in current schooling conditions and outcomes experienced by Whites and African American/Mexican American students are not due to historical discrimination, and such history is irrelevant to the litigation in GI Forum et al. vs. Texas Education Agency et al .By contrast, this article asserts that the contemporary widespread school failure of many African American and Mexican American students in Texas public schools is strongly connected to long-standing systemic public school inequalities and the subsequent limited opportunities to learn. This article lays down a framework for understanding the link between historical and contemporary discrimination. As an example of this past-present association, the issue of school segregation is discussed. Furthermore, data on the issue of substandard teachers and how this inequality shortchanges minority students is presented. The article’s major conclusion is that the State’s ahistorical position is both faulty and indefensible.