I have always told my students that in order to define a word, they could not use a form of the word in the definition. So, how would one go about defining "integration" without using "integral", "integrating", etc.? One definition says that integration is behavior that is in harmony with the environment. (hmmm. Interesting [and cerebral] definition here.) Another definition is the "act or instance of combining into an integral whole". Substituting "co-existent" maybe, for "integral" would help that definition. A couple of definitions define integration by using the verb "integrating". Yeah, like that helps.
So I'm taking some words from an article I read in Educational Leadership (Integrated Schools: Finding a New Path, Nov 2010), where it talks about schools remaining a powerful tool for shoring up individual opportunity and attaining a thriving, multiracial democratic society. I would definitely say that is an overarching charge of public education today.
But what do they mean by "integrated schools"? When one uses that term, are they referring only to race and ethnicity? Socio-economic status? Are they referring to heterogeneous classrooms of mixed ability? Are they referring to schools which not only embrace but seek out ways to connect curriculum - to each other and to make it relevant to the world around our students? Of course, I think of the Supreme Court when I think of the use for "integration" - specifically Plessy v. Ferguson (integrated train cars), and 1954's Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka Kansas (did you know it was Topeka? Good Jeopardy question.), and those cases both had everything to do with race and ethnicity. Once Brown v. Board was decided, districts, states, the federal government began using "integration", "desegregation" and "segregation" much more frequently, and strongly. And as well, people's viewpoints on "integration", "desegregation" and "segregation" were (and are) just as strong.
However, when I think of "integrated schools", my curriculum brain starts churning and I think of ways that the "meat of the school" - the "stuff" that students learn - could be integrated. And by integrated, I mean to each other (math and social studies, Language Arts and science), and integrated into real life. In that respect, I believe that is the truest, and most challenging, aspect of integration befalling public schools. If we truly wish to integrate, we need to get to know our students. Their learning modalities, their lives outside of school, what gets them excited and what they already know. We search, and re-search (yes, re-search, as in "search again and again and again... don't be complacent here!) ways to make learning come alive to our students at every step of their developmental and academic journey. Sometimes we are lucky. I stumbled upon a website today that truly got me excited about teaching - it's called Let Freedom Swing, and it integrates the teaching of American Jazz and the concept of democracy. Talk about tapping into different modalities! And talk about integration! Music and social studies. Just AWESOME! (check it out: http://www.letfreedomswing.org - it's a collaboration between Rockefeller Center and Teachers College at Columbia University!) Take it one step further, and one could connect jazz to today's rap and hip hop. And then we could connect music to poetry. And poetry to the First Amendment. And the First Amendment to new discoveries in science. And so on and so on.
And if we did this - if we (and I am using "we" collectively here, as in communities of which public schools are a cornerstone) took the time to integrate what students learn with how students live, we would "shore up individual opportunity and attain a thriving, multiracial democratic society", to use the words in the Ed Leadership article. We would be nurturing a generation of critical thinkers and active citizens who proactively thought about their futures, their learning, their communities.
Integration is not just color, although race and ethnicity do matter, greatly. It's not just about equality (maybe there's a word for a future blog post - because can we truly be equal? Or should we?). It's about providing challenging coursework that is relevant to today and to the future. In other words, integrating school with society. Integrating a deeper understanding of ourselves and others in order to create and thrive in that challenging environment. Integrating pedagogy with sociology and psychology to give students the opportunity to become active, critical thinkers.
It's taking that multi-faceted responsibility and running with it.
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