Needed: A New Educational Civil Rights Movement
             Evans Clinchy's article calls for a new civil rights movement for today's education system. Despite the Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which states that all children have the right to an "equal educational opportunity", Clinchy concludes that all children do not have "equal opportunities". He believes this is true for two reasons: economic segregation of schools and the federal agenda that imposes a standardized curriculum that is inappropriate and blind to the diversity and culture of our students, and our public schools systems.
             To achieve a true democracy in education, Clinchy suggests that parents, teachers and the community speak up and rid the school system of unequal opportunities and provide all America's children with the best possible education.
             The first cause of this inequality is economic segregation. This is mainly due to the differences between the neighborhoods in which the schools exist. It is clear that the condition of a school directly reflects the economic status of the community. For example, inner city and rural districts, which may be on a lower economic scale, could only raise $7,000 for each student, while a suburban district may raise $12,000 to $15,000. This segregation disregards the decision of Brown v. Board of Education by not allowing children to have equal facilities, comparable educational tools and fully trained teachers.
             The second cause of this inequality is the federal agenda that imposes a standardized curriculum on all schools. Many teachers and administrators feel that this inappropriately demands too high of standards on their students. In particular, the agenda forces almost every state to incorporate a written test into the program. Every student within a certain grade level, despite his or her culture and the quality of his or her sc
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