Week 10: Reflection and Link

Fifty years after the landmark Brown v. Board decision, the APA's publication, Monitor on Psychology, commemorated this date by publishing an issue centered on currently relevant issues in educational psychology. This coincided with the annual convention (2004), in which Kenneth and Mamie Clark were honored for their contributions which were arguably under-recognized during the Brown era. In addition, the APA's Racial Identity in Context: The Legacy of Kenneth B. Clark, examines Clark's life and incredible achievements in promoting desegregation and racial equality through interviews of 20 prominent psychologists. Reflecting back upon Clark's work and vision for the desegregation process in all American schools, psychologists and sociologists alike are often quick to admit that, discouraging as it is, Clark's projection was rather accurate. He argued that integration would happen to the degree that authorities and the government worked for it - which many would argue has not, to a great degree, happened in our schools. Rather than simply recounting Clark's contributions, however, the book stresses how his focus on the community had and continues to have far-reaching effects on how we conceive of group identity, race, and social psychology.

Other topics in the September 2004 issue of the Monitor on Psychology include desegregating urban schools, the education achievement/opportunity gap (and the significance behind word choice), social hurdles to integration, and the claim that academic placement perpetuates racial segregation. This touches on some of the issues we read and talked about in terms of school psychology, as well as many of the social questions facing those employed in the wide field of applied psychology today. These topics are of personal interest to me as my favorite areas of psychology are development and social, yet I also believe they're relevant to all of us preparing to graduate and enter graduate school or the work force - the burden of racial inequality doesn't stop at the borders of the school yard.

Here's the link to the short articles in the 9/04 issue of the Monitor : http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep04/50years.html