What role has the federal government played in American education?
While the Constitution leaves the responsibility for schooling to the states, the federal government has played an increasing role in education over the past century, promoting teacher training, science and math instruction, and desegregation. More recently, the emphasis has been on school standards and testing. • How did history shape the educational experiences of African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and Arab Americans? Despite a national commitment to educate all citizens, bias and discrimination characterize the histories of many of ethnic and racial groups. The doctrine of “separate but equal” (Plessey v. Ferguson) was the law of the land until the 1954 Brown decision. Today, more than half a century after Brown, de facto resegregation has once again separated black and white. Hispanics (or Latinos) are now the largest minority group in the United States and face the challenges in a culture that has often seen people speaking another language as threate