The New York Times (District May End N.C. Economic Diversity Program) describes the polarization of the Wake County school district’s economic diversity policy. The distance wealthier children have to travel from their home, performance scores, and discipline rates are discussed as touchstones for measuring progress or failure, yet there are two major flaws in this article.
First, there are no student perspectives on how the policy effects them. Second, the article doesn’t provide a business case for diversity, which is odd considering the issue is economic diversity. The economic reward for diversity extends throughout students’ lives, and the article could have approached this aspect from human, social, or cultural capital perspectives. Human capital includes marketable knowledge, skills, and abilities; social capital includes the gains from networking (which business schools emphasize is a primary means of success); and cultural capital includes the values, beliefs, and behaviors writ-large (e.g., collaboration, community service, human rights). Each is greatly enhanced by diversity.