British writer praises Wake's diversity policy

"Some of the statements in the column are a bit of an exaggeration."

What would you expect? Many statements in the book are exaggerated/fabricated. Perhaps if this gut got his nose out of a book and ventured out into the real world he'd have a clue. Given his liberal background, however, its not likely he'd let facts get in his way.

I suspect the British will be too sensible for this and that before they blindly follow one flimsy suggestion, they'll look into all the most modern research of this new Millenium. They are, after all, not us. Their culture is quite different. Talk about one size NOT fitting all.

And, as well, some new research may start to guide folks toward 'door #3". Found this interesting:http://www.newsweek.com/id/214989

Astounding excerpts... not pretending to know what this means, just find this a bit earthshattering...Especially the last excerpt.

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(Bigler's) Her reasoning is that kids are developmentally prone to in-group favoritism; they're going to form these preferences on their own. Children naturally try to categorize everything, and the attribute they rely on is that which is the most clearly visible.

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The Diverse Environment Theory is the core principle behind school desegregation today. Like most people, I assumed that after 30 years of desegregation, it would have a long track record of scientific research proving that the Diverse Environment Theory works. Then Ashley and I began talking to the scholars who've compiled that very research.

In the summer of 2007, led by the Civil Rights Project, a dozen scholars wrote an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting school desegregation in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle. By the time the brief reached the court, 553 scientists had signed on in support. However, as much as the scientists all supported active desegregation, the brief is surprisingly circumspect in its advocacy: the benefits of desegregation are qualified with words like "may lead" and "can improve." "Mere school integration is not a panacea," the brief warns.

UT's Bigler was one of the scholars heavily involved in the process of its creation. Bigler is an adamant proponent of desegregation in schools on moral grounds. "It's an enormous step backward to increase social segregation," she says. However, she also admitted that "in the end, I was disappointed with the amount of evidence social psychology could muster [to support it]. Going to integrated schools gives you just as many chances to learn stereotypes as to unlearn them."

The unfortunate twist of diverse schools is that they don't necessarily lead to more cross-race relationships. Often it's the opposite. ....

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Moody found that the more diverse the school, the more the kids self-segregate by race and ethnicity within the school, and thus the likelihood that any two kids of different races have a friendship goes down.