promotion relates the ignoble goal of a "melting pot" society in which individual cultures are shed and a collective "American" one is formed. This "common" identity is White and based on the notion that "equality means sameness rather than oneness" (B & S, p. 256, 1996). This idea corresponds with the "traditional 'wisdom' that assimilation via academic achievement is a desirable consequence of public education" (Spina and Tai, p. 36, 1998). This desire for assimilation is facilitated by the teachers and administrators that are hired, textbooks that are used, versions of history that are promoted, languages that are valued, as well as through in-school celebrations, rituals and holidays in a manner that strategically excludes and diminishes the power of racial minorities.The most significant way in which Whiteness infuses the educational system is by ignoring the needs and even the existence of non-White populations. This ignorance reflects a larger sentiment in this country where "cities have become so isolated racially, culturally, and economically...and unfortunately, most of the national leadership has either had an enormous sense of indifference or an overt hostility to the cities" (CQ Quarterly). It is no coincidence that urban schools, which enroll 5% of the nation's White children, 42% of Black children, and 28% of Latino children represent the nation's most decrepit and unhealthy schools (CQ Quarterly). That inferior education for the forgotten and oppressed in inner cities is accepted can be seen in the way that national school reform movements largely bypass urban populations. In its least explicit form, this bypassing means that "goals are tailored to fit the needs of urban schools" in the interest of (sometimes) maintaining a palatable level of education for urban schools rather than raising urban schools up to White standards. Perhaps children see it clearest; one child's answer to the question of whether (raciall...
