School Desegregation and White Flight

Abstract

White flight from cities has been a much discussed phenomenon in the last decade. Despite widespread speculation over which policies aggravate this trend and which slow it down, there has been little systematic research as to its causes and consequences. Nevertheless, administrators and politicians often claim that school desegregation, perhaps one of the most controversial policies of the last decade, is counterproductive because it acclerates white flight. most recent proponent of this theory is James Coleman, best known for Equal Educational Opportunity, often called the Coleman Report.' He has stated that The extremely strong reactions of individual whites in moving their children out of large districts engaged in massive and rapid desegregation suggests that in the long run the policies that have been pursued will defeat the purpose of increasing overall contact among races