How do you think the students would have reacted to the busing with out pressure from their parents or the presence of the media? Please answer in the comments section.
Monday, March 30, 2009
The crisis in Boston
The eyes of the nation were on Boston in the 1970's. Media coverage of the school segregation crisis was widespread. Cameras and journalists were as common to the students attending school as rioters and protesters. Parents of both the black and white students were extremely outspoken in their efforts to halt or progress the desegregation process.
How do you think the students would have reacted to the busing with out pressure from their parents or the presence of the media? Please answer in the comments section.
How do you think the students would have reacted to the busing with out pressure from their parents or the presence of the media? Please answer in the comments section.
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The desegregated students would have adjusted through time and would have cooperated, though the racial divide within the school would have remained fairly distinct. The grouping of the schools by neighborhood caused their peers to be the people who surrounded them in life and the majority would have been resistant to change. Because they lived and attended school with the children of their neighborhood (and neighborhoods were almost entirely divided by race) this was their community. They would have remained with those who they knew and so, though the school environment would be relatively peaceful, de facto segregation would have been visible. There would be some friendships of students of different races however, a good amount I believe, with no consequence (excluding parent and media influence)
ReplyDeleteIn absence of pressure from the media and from parents, students attending desegregated schools would most likely not have reacted in as extreme ways as they did with this pressure. They most likely would have sucked it up and without parents telling them it wasn't ok for them to attend a school with kids of different backgrounds taught the kids to hate and caused the great tension inside and outside the schools. If parents made their kids attend schools with people that were different then them the kids probably would have still grouped themselves with people of their race (no one would be friends right away) but eventually they would probably reach out to each other. I thought it was interesting that no one protested the white kids presence in the Roxbury school, while white kids and parents alike viciously protested the attendance of blacks at their schools. I thought it killed the argument that their protest wasn't race related.
ReplyDeleteI think kids are especially effected by what surrounds them. They are young, so what they think is based a lot on their environment. Since they are still learning, what people around them do and say can change their thoughts, and form their opinions. I think if the younger kids in elementary schools did not have any media or parent influence, they would have continued on with their schooling. However, some kids were probably raised by then to hate the "others". If so, then they might harass or be mean to the kids coming in. Other kids will probably just continue their normal school day, only with extra kids there. The older high school kids would probably either have a harder or easier time reacting and adjusting. They could either have strong hate towards the incoming kids and torture them, or they could be mature and realize that times change, and it is a required action.
ReplyDeleteI think that the students would have at first thought it was weird to have integrated classrooms, but after a short amount of time, would become used to the new system and accept it. I think that the hatred towards blacks that the white students displayed was really just the effect of their parents. It is easy to persuade children and the parents were encouraging their white children to be racist. These feelings were encouraged by the parents and the media. Had the parents and media been taken out of the equation, the children would not have learned that blacks are bad and would therefore have accepted the change. A lot of what we believe is because we were taught to believe it, and not necessarily because it is the truth.
ReplyDeleteIf the kids were left alone, without the influences of their parents and the media, the whole situation would've definately been calmer. I don't think that the students thought of the integration/busing as a problem, other than possibly being inconvenient with respect to the travel distance. One girl who was interviewed in the documentary commented that it was hard for a 17 year old to have to face angry mobs every day before school-- and this was a white girl. She obviously held different views than that of her community/family, as she just wanted to go to school without being harassed. The fights amongst kids of different races in schools more than likely stemmed from the attitudes and messages of hate that were made so apparent by the kids' parents and community.
ReplyDeleteEven if the parents weren't actively pressuring them, the kids would have still been brought up in households that put certain emphasises on race. They would, in some form, be effected by that, and possibly reflect it in their actions, anyway, even if nobody was forcing them to. Without pressure from their parents, though, I think /more/ white students would have gone to school, though some of them would have definately seen the situation as a free pass out of having to be at school. There may have been little to no change in their behavior, though, since kids react horribly to any sort of difference.
ReplyDeleteWithout their parent's presence, it's hard for me to say what the black students would have done. I'd imagine that some of them would stay home for fear of what would go on at school, and some would go anyway as a statement that they are going to accept that oppertunity.
Kids react to situations based on thier enviorment and how the adults around them react, such as their parents. I believe that the students would have taken some time to adjust to the intergration, but there would not have been so issues throughout the process. The students might have started some fights but this could be seen in a typical school anywhere. The kids in the movie knew what was unfair and wanted what was best for them, most of the children we saw who spoke were black. We didn't not see a white child interviewed and their thougths. But I bet they would not have been as strong and aggressive as their parents. The media and the parents of students created more problems during the integration then the students themselves. I agree with Leah that it is easy to persuade children and a lot of what we believe is not necessarily true.
ReplyDeleteI think that the reaction would have been a negative one at first. The children that got bussed would be going to a new school, without many of their friends. And the younger ones wouldn't see the positive outcome that comes from desegregation. But I think that in time they would make new friends and that negative aspect to the integration process would go away. The response after that would depend on the children's age. I think young children are often very accepting of everyone and the integration process would be easy in the younger grades. But older children have undoubtedly been influenced by their parents believes, no matter how unfounded and are very quick to act and to judge on those beliefs.
ReplyDeleteImagine a black and a white kid going to school together from the very beginning of their education, without any parents talking to them about races, or anything that would tell about racism in any kind. Would those kids hate each other or not? Probably not, especially there would not be any race based hatred. Human children always copy what they see. This goes so far that if kids do not grow up with humans which usually go on two legs, the children would not stand up and walk either. Racial hatred is exactly the same. If there was not the collective past, fear and hatred in between races, there would not be racism. I can imagine that blacks who see the pictures of screaming, furious white parents in the movie we saw today, will share a collective feeling too. If it is hatred against the parents, fear of the parents' actions or whatever it is, i cannot name it, but i am pretty sure, feelings evolve out of this past.
ReplyDeleteIf the parents and the media wouldnt have made such a big thing out of the busing, then the racial problems would have been less. you can observe that kids even somehow copy the parents' opinion about politics (although that should be a totally own opinion it is surely influenced by the parents), so it is pretty obvious that they copy the parents hatred too. But if the hatred wouldnt have been that present and the media wouldnt have made such a spectacle out of it, the kids would have gone to school without or at least less, inbuilt racial hatred. I do not think that fights in the school would have been as present as it actually was and the drop put rate wouldnt have raised.
Sure, there might still be problems, and still racism which was "taught" before the schools were desegregated, but the parents' reactions just made it worse.
I think that even without the pressure of their parents and media, students would have still reacted similarly. As a whole, people are influenced by what goes on around them, and if one person starts to protest, most likely a whole wave will follow, simply because they don't want to be left out. However, I do believe that they would eventually adapt to the new system, and that some of the more intense situations might not have happened had parents or the media not been involved. Kids are influenced primarily by their parents, and without that variable I doubt racism would have been such a big problem in the schools.
ReplyDeleteAt first, the process of desegregation would be difficult for the students even without the attention of media and their parents. Students would not be happy with the idea at all in the beginning, because they would either be going to a new school themselves or some of their friends would be going to a new school. However the students would have made new friends and realized that it was not such a bad thing after all. The biggest issue in the documentary was the fact that the children were watching what their parents were doing, and our parents are our first teachers. Every action that they take, we learn from it.
ReplyDeleteLike other people have said, the kids will react to the riots and other activities even if the parents and media were not involved, since they would react to their surroundings. However, I think that when the parents and the media get involved, a "need to react" is created because of how strong the information that the kids are told by parents seem to them, since they look up to their parents for support on many things. I think desegregation is very important, however it is brutal to see what these kids have to go through. Some of it might be a danger to their lives. In the movie, we saw some little kids on a bus and that bus was being followed, having things thrown at it etc. One of the girls had commented that it wasn't fair that what they had to go through, the white kids didn't. I agree. I think that desegregation should be, as much as possible, peacefully accomplished. All protest should also be done peacefully.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the students would have reacted similarly, but at a much milder level than they did when under the influence of their parents and the media. I feel that the extent of their reaction to the situation would not reach the level at which they were throwing rocks and things at the passing buses, and plastering city buildings with crude graffiti. That, to me, was the most unbelievable result of the forced busing; I remember in the video there was a mother talking about how she saw a white woman with her daughter telling her to stand next to her and throw rocks at the black students. That was something that I didn't want to believe could still exist even during the 20th century, and completely shocked me. It revealed a lot about how much influence parents can have on their children, which makes me feel that if the students weren't under their parents influence, their reactions would be a lot less harsh and intense.
ReplyDeleteWithout the pressure of their parents and the media, children would certainly notice the difference but would not go to such extremes about it. At first the students might feel angry about being forced to go to a new school and leave their friends, but after awhile they would make new friends and get used everyone, no matter what color, being together in one school.
ReplyDeleteThe anger that parents felt influenced their kids to make the same judgements that they had made. I agree with what Rachel W. said, parents are one of the biggest influences a child could ever have. The kids don't want to be left out of what their parents are doing so they join in. If prejudiced parents hadn't been there for the bussing there wouldn't have been "ten to fifteen fights a day" in the South Boston high school. There would probably still be some but not nearly as many.
The media and the parents had a large effect on the way the students reacted. I think that if the students had not been surrounded by their angry parents, things would have gone a lot better in the schools. The students still would have learned racism at home, but without the constant pressure from their parents to stop the busing, things probably wouldn't have gotten nearly as bad, and calmed down much quicker. The kids probably would have been annoyed at first, and there probably would have been tension and fights, but they would have learned to get along.
ReplyDeleteI think that without the pressure of the media and views of their parents, the children in Boston would have reacted to the busing a lot less severely. They would have noticed and still been opinionated, but they would not have had the enormous influence of adults on the situation. As children grow up, a lot of who they are and who they become is based on the environment in which they grow up in. If they grow up in a hateful, and racially divided environment, they are more likely to have those views as an adult. If parents and the media had stayed out of it and left it up to the kids, I think there still would have been issues but not to the severity that it was.
ReplyDeleteWithout pressure from parents or the media, I think that children definitely would not have reacted the same way their parents did. At first, the students would probably group according to race because that is what they are used to, having gone to an all white or all black school all their life. They also may feel anger because they wouldn't want to leave their friends. However, these feelings of anger are much different than their parents. Granted, it would take time for students to settle into the new school and actually integrate, but nonetheless, without such influence coming from the media and parents, I think that integration would have been achieved much more smoothly.
ReplyDeleteWithout external pressures, I think that most students would have reacted calmly to the busing crisis. I don't think that all of the students, especially high school students at the time, would have necessarily supported the whole deal, but I think that they would have, for the most part, reacted passively.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons that the actual student reactions were active, and frequently violent, was because of the media attention and parental pressure that students of all races were subject to. With flocks of reporters, crowds of enraged parents, and the necessity for armed guards, the students were forced into a very high-stress situation. And all of the tension that was building up among the student body needed to be let out somehow and so many students fought and vandalized. Without the spotlight that the community put on students while at school, many Boston students would have been subject to far less stress in their lives.
Without the external influences of adults, I believe the younger children at least would have integrated their classrooms and schools within a relatively short period of time. It's like that gender divide: when they're very young (say 6-ish), boys and girls all play together. It's not until children are 9 or so that the whole "Ewwwwww girls have cooties!" thing factors into the equation. And even then, the children's understanding of gender come from the media and what their parents tell them, what they observe from the adult world.
ReplyDeleteThe older the schoolchildren are, however, the more difficult it would have been to integrate the classrooms. Prejudices build up over time, even if not taught explicitly, and we as human beings become more aware of ourselves, and how we are different from each other, as we grow up. Self-segregation comes into play around middle/high school. As we saw in "Keys to the Kingdom" today, the hostility of white high schoolers in South Boston High toward the African American students was palpable.
But even so, I think that, on their own, the students would eventually have found an equilibrium, as long as their daily schedules and the resources of their schools were not adversely affected. It was the strong opinions of parents and the media's dramatizing everything (no offense to those journalists, but seriously?) that aggravated tensions between students, and probably created many problems where originally there had been none. The show of hatred and aggression from white parents set an example for their children, sparking violence within the schools.
(Of course, apart from the external pressures from parents and the media, there's also the question of how teachers treated the issue of race within the classroom... But I guess that's a topic for another day?)
Without the pressure of the media and parents i believe the kids would have integrated classrooms in much less violent manner. The kids don't know what to think so they are just driven by the thoughts of their parents and elders. Suburban kids had no clue exactly why they were being pulled out of school everyday. They know their parents disagree with the desegregation of the schools so they have no choice but to follow. The desegregation may have run much smoother because the young kids could just work together and not have to worry about old stereotypes or prejudices. They can move past color and just begin to learn together because if they are born into an integrated society with no pressures that's all they'll know. Right away they'll feel comfortable and ready to work side by side with another race and it wouldn't be an issue.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to generalize how the children would have acted to the busing without the influence of their parents or the media. The younger children would probably be wary at first for they were bused to foreign schools in unfamiliar, unfriendly neighborhoods. However, in the safety of the schools, I think the bussed children would have warmed up to each other. Without the blatant hate from the parents and the intensifying effect from the media, children are left to their own decisions which is basically is he nice? Does he play with me? Does he share is snacks with me?
ReplyDeleteHowever as children get older, they pick up racism indirectly and most of them, before they knew when it happened, turn racist. I'd like to point out that most schools were quiet during the bussing. Only a few 'battlegrounds' were volatile, where immense tension from parents leaked into the school, where the safety of the schools were compromised. Most students remained tolerant even with high tensions about the situations.
I think that without the pressure from parents and the media that the children would not have acted as extremely. The younger students would have noticed people who are different from them, but because they are more innocent, they would have quickly made friends with people of other races. However, the older students in middle and high school would have reacted with some violence because they have been accustomed to going to school with students of their own race. It would take a long time for the students to get used to going to school with people of other races, but eventually it would not cause many problems. Like other people have said, children are easily persuaded by authority figures, especially their parents. Because the older students have been influenced longer, the ideas they have about people of the other race are more engrained and thus when the desegregation started, the students let their ideas out and hurt the students being bussed in.
ReplyDeleteIf the media and pressure from their parents was not involved, then I think the students would have been much more accepting to the idea of bussing. A lot of kids are influenced the most by their environment. This is often displayed in politics and religion, many kids make their decisions based off what they experienced first hand through their parents. The students got along when the white kids were bussed into Roxbury, so it was evident that the students did not have a major problem with the integration. Once the parents got upset about the black kids coming to the white schools, however, the kids noticed that suddenly they should be upset about something too. In the beginning the students would have found it strange to suddenly be in mixed schools, but eventually they would have accepted it without too much drama. The violence and trauma was all caused by the parents making a big deal out of everything.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what has been said so far - I think that without the pressure of the media and their parents, kids would not have reacted as extremely and violently as they did. I do think some kids would still have lashed out because of influences from home life, but I feel that it would most likely be much more isolated events. For the most part, I think kids would be much more comfortable accepting the change, maybe not stepping far out of their comfort zones to really integrate completely, but also not defying the school or the police.
ReplyDeleteI think that the transition would have been much more peaceful if the parents and media had not gotten involved. There obviously would have been some hostility between the races, but over time I believe that it would have decreased and become less of an issue. I'm sure the white kids were intimidated by the black students entering their school, and vice versa with the black students. In the movie, when the students were interviewed, I did not sense any racism towards the other race, just the acknowledgment that it was an awkward and difficult adjustment. Since the parents got involved, they hyped up the situation because they felt that their kids were being cheated in the situation. The kids in turn started acting out against it because their parents have such a big influence on their beliefs. The media obviously hyped up the situation as well because they wanted a good, juicy story to report. The kids actually seemed annoyed by the constant attention and riots outside of the school every morning, and took some of that frustration out by blaming the black students for the difficulties that they didn't have before.
ReplyDeleteChildren and young adults are incredibly influenced by their parents, so much so that their reactions, for the most part, mirrored their parents' reaction. If the parents and the media were not part of the equation, I think the students still would have held some initial negativity toward the idea because of their already developed ideals, but would have calmed down after a while. Kids have not had as much time as adults to process their ideals and so their feelings are not as strong as adults'. But the kids would have adjusted to the change over time.
ReplyDeleteChildren are easily influenced by both their parents and the media, if there were no influence from either of them, then I doubt there would be such a reaction. Of course, if they were bussed and suddenly ended up in a environment where there are people with a different skin and ask their parents why there are people of another skin color. However, if they parents did not portray the people as "bad" then the children would be much more willing to accept others.
ReplyDeleteI think the kids would have been sort of annoyed still, bust mostly for the reason that they had to go and do something that was a little bit inconvenient. Speaking for myself, I would be a little bit annoyed if I was forced to wake up an hour earlier every day to be bussed to a school so that I could represent a minority - even if I knew that it was beneficial in the long run. However, I still would have done it. I think the kids in this situation would not have boycotted if there had not been pressure from their parents and the media.
ReplyDeleteKids and teens have an easer time adjusting to new ideas and circumstances. When families move the kids are the first to adapt to the new culture. I think that if it were not for the persistent angry parents the kids from both areas would have been a lot more open to each other. The kids had negative attitudes towards the situation because their parents were angry with the situation. Parents have a huge influence over their children, especially with heavy moral issues like this.
ReplyDeleteIf the students weren't experiencing pressure from their parents, the media, or other outside sources, I think they would have been more open to the idea of desegregation. In the movie we watched in class, "Eyes on the Prize", I noticed that many of the parents were against the desegregation of the Boston public schools. My theory is that they were opposed to this because of the way their parents raised them. And just when they are raising their own children society is retreating from segregation, gradually. I think that the parents struggled with these changes, leaving their children in a sticky situation. Without the pressure, the children may willingly ride the bus together, no matter what their race. When the black students walk into school, they would not have to be escorted by the police, and buses would not be attacked by white students upon departing from South Boston at the end of the school day.
ReplyDeleteI think that the reaction from the students would be varied depending on their age groups and race. I would assume that the younger students wouldn't care whether or not they were being bused in. I think that because when you are of a young age color doesn't matter. As children get older they are influenced by parents, the media, school, friends and many more. So theoretically the older the kids got the more that they would reject the idea of busing and desegregation. Also for the older kids they would have grown up with all the angst and segregation for the blacks. There would be no reason for them to act differently than the rest of their culture.
ReplyDeleteI think that, without pressure from their parents or the media, fewer black students would have followed through with going to white schools every day, and fewer white students would have pulled themselves out of school. At least for the younger kids, who didn't really have much to defend themselves with, it must have been difficult to deal with so much violence and hate every day. I don't think that young black students would have had an understanding yet of why it was important for them to go to school despite the hate that they had to deal with, and I don't think that young white students had developed as many prejudices as their parents and the media force fed them.
ReplyDeleteI think it would have depended on the age of the students. Without audible objections from their parents, young children would probably have accepted the new developments. They might have been a bit upset that they were being forced to change schools, and in some cases, leave many of their friends. But these objections would not have been motivated by racist sentiments.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the older children, and high school students especially, who have had more time to develop racist feelings and sometimes be influenced by racist parents, would probably have voiced their objections based on race. Just like the many high school students that the movie showed boycotting school, I think students without input from parents would have acted similarly.
If there were no other influences in the children's lives for example parents, or other older role models the whole situation would have gone much smoother and been less violent. The children would have adjusted to what was going on and acted accordingly. The reason the majority of children even know about racism is because of their elders and other things they hear being said or done by older people. An article we read a while ago talked about this and how to children it really doesn't matter what color you are or how tall you are, they don't start to notice these things until adolescence.
ReplyDeleteI think the students wouldnt act the same without there parents present and screaming at everything that has to do with the busing. because the generation that was at the high, middle, and elemantary school is the generation that has the mindset that blacks and whites have equal rights
ReplyDeleteI do not think that the students would have acted so radically if there were no parents and media attention. I believe that many of the kids only believed that people should have unequal rights because it had been drilled into their minds by their parents. They are growing up in a time where things are becoming more equal, and their parents grew up in a time where things were VERY unequal. I think that they would have been more accepting and reached out to the new students overtime.
ReplyDeleteI'm making up this blog post I missed when I was at nationals. Without pressure from the media and the presence of parents, I think the students would have reacted far more rationally. Stereotypes, beliefs, and distrust are often carried from one generation to another. By older generations passing on stories and opinions to new generations, it is difficult for us to move on from problems the old generations had. We have come a long way, but we still have so much farther to go. It's not the same world is was back in even my parents age. So when my mom says that she used to sit in the principles office many times over the course of a year for fighting kids who made fun of her for being Chinese, I can't entirely relate. I've never really fought someone for saying something about my race. Without the media and parents influencing the kids, perhaps the desegregation would have gone smoothly. I'm not sure; I can only hope it would have because the violence and tension to me is proof that the past is not entirely in the past. If, without the media and parents, the kids still acted out against one another than that would say something about human nature, a far more devastating concept
ReplyDelete