In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, and a violation of the 14th Amendment, which grants equal protection under the law to all citizens, regardless of race. In the decades that followed, school systems took steps - oftentimes unwillingly - to obey that ruling, sometimes busing students considerable distances in order to achieve mandated racial integration. Even so, de facto segregation has remained common, largely because of demographic patterns and school systems that are built around neighbourhoods: if virtually all of the residents of a school district are of only one race, the school is, as a result, populated by only one race as well. In recent years, however, there has been growing sentiment for a new kind of de jure segregation, one that is deliberate, rather than accidental: it has been argued that black males, in particular, are better served educationally in all-black (and all-male) schools - and that public school systems should provide such an option. Opponents of single-race schools are skeptical about the purported benefits of such institutions, and they reject any system, however well-intentioned, that violates the judicial ban on segregation.
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