According to new data released by Gary Orfield, codirector of the Civil Rights Project, about one-sixth of black students and one-ninth of Latino students attend what Orfield calls 'apartheid schools,' institutions that teach at least 99 percent students of color. In urban centers, black and Latino students are twice as likely to attend such schools.

 

"Once you separate kids spacially from more privileged kids, they tend to not get the same things," says Amy Stuart Wells, an education professor. "And we need to start thinking about how a school that's racially isolated can be preparing students for this global society we live in."

 

This article appeared in the January 26, 2008 edition of the RawStory.com.