万花筒 Kaleidoscope 2007-07-09&07-11, 美国最高院裁决:不得以种族作招生标准（在线收听） |
| A Supreme Court ruling issued Thursday threatens one of the High Court's most significant decisions in the past century. So says Justice Stephen Breyer, who wrote the dissent to the five-four vote to severely limit how school districts use race to achieve diversity within their halls. The court rejected two integration plans Thursday, saying they relied too much on race and the ruling may force other districts to review how they place students in different schools. "Opinion today means that hundreds of school districts across the nation are no longer going to be able to use race in assigning public school students to different schools." The matter reached the High Court only after parents in Louisville Kentucky and Seattle Washington sued their school districts. They were complaining that their kids were either not allowed to go to the schools they wanted to or being forced to attend other schools because of their skin color. However, some civil rights groups say this ruling threatens the heart of a landmark case: Brown versus the Board of Education which desegregated the nation's public schools. "At a time when school segregation is increasing in the last half century since Brown, a plurality of the current court has condemned minority children to a back seat in the race for life's chances." The ruling though doesn't completely prohibit schools from using race as a factor. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote a concurring opinion, saying race can be a component to achieve diversity. One of the school districts affected says that opinion will go a long way. "Eliminating racial isolation in our public schools, we were further gratified to learn that from reading Justice Kennedy's opinion that there're viable strategies that we are currently using, that we can continue to build upon. " School officials there say the ruling won't force them to change where students will go this upcoming school year, but may make them alter their plans for the future. Ross Simpson, the Associated Press. |
| 原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/wanhuatong/2007/42043.html |