When thinking about the suburbs, many of us picture tree-lined streets, single-family homes, and big yards — the “little boxes” of the Pete Seeger song. The image of these little boxes (or big McMansions) is iconic enough that we chose it for this month’s cover, knowing that this is what reads as suburbia. But look inside those boxes (or these pages), and it quickly becomes clear that the picture is incomplete. The boxes come in many different shapes, sizes, and colors, and they don’t always fit together as neatly as we imagine they do.
The suburbs are becoming increasingly diverse. In fact, migration of families of color out of the cities has made suburban communities some of the most diverse in the U.S. (Dirks, 2022). And with these changes comes conflict.
One place this conflict plays out is in public schools. When Rachel S. White, Michael P. Evans, and Joel R. Malin surveyed U.S. school superintendents, the suburban respondents reported higher levels of political contentiousness in their districts than those in urban and rural districts. Social studies teacher Antony Farag describes how, even though his suburban district remains predominately white, he faced serious scrutiny for his elective course that uses critical race theory to get students thinking about how different institutions in our society use power.
As John B. Diamond explains in this month’s Kappan interview, decision makers tend to listen to the loudest voices and end up distributing resources unevenly as a result. In some cases, this plays out in how attendance boundaries are drawn. Sarah Asson and her co-authors examined the changing attendance zones in three growing suburban districts outside Washington, D.C., and found that, at best, districts weren’t taking advantage of opportunities to integrate their schools. At worst, new boundary lines were making schools less diverse even as the counties became more so. In all three communities, plans to rezone schools with diversity in mind were met with resistance.
As the conflict rolls on, suburban superintendents like those White and her co-authors surveyed could become even more stressed. Teachers might become even more reluctant to bring up issues that will invite scrutiny and potential job loss. Some students could be barred from hearing different views or encountering students different from them, which would leave them less prepared for adult life in our ever-changing society. And other students will continue to be denied the same opportunities that others enjoy.
The reality is that, whatever our suburbs look like, the people in them must find ways to live together peaceably, now and in the future. That’s why I find hope in models like collaborative deliberation, which Keith C. Barton and Li-Ching Ho describe in this issue. Instead of taking opposite sides on a contentious issue, students explore different solutions to a shared problem. Such deliberation, including about schools, can still be contentious, but the focus is not on us vs. them but on all of us together. Our little boxes don’t need to all look the same to make a pleasing image.
References
Dirks, S. (2022, November 8). Suburbs are now the most diverse areas in America. NPR.
This article appears in the February 2023 issue of Kappan, Vol. 104, No. 5, p. 4.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Teresa Preston
Teresa Preston is an editorial consultant and the former editor-in-chief of Phi Delta Kappan and director of publications for PDK International, Arlington, VA.
Visit their website at: https://prestoneditorial.com/
