Cite as: 536 U. S. 639 (2002)
Thomas, J., concurring
school dropout earns just over $13,500, but with a high school degree the average income is almost $21,000. Blacks with a bachelor's degree have an average annual income of about $37,500, and $75,500 with a professional degree. See U. S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States 140 (2001) (Table 218). Staying in school and earning a degree generates real and tangible financial benefits, whereas failure to obtain even a high school degree essentially relegates students to a life of poverty and, all too often, of crime.8 The failure to provide education to poor urban children perpetuates a vicious cycle of poverty, dependence, criminality, and alienation that continues for the remainder of their lives. If society cannot end racial discrimination, at least it can arm minorities with the education to defend themselves from some of discrimination's effects.
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Ten States have enacted some form of publicly funded private school choice as one means of raising the quality of education provided to underprivileged urban children.9 These programs address the root of the problem with failing urban public schools that disproportionately affect minority students. Society's other solution to these educational failures is often to provide racial preferences in higher education. Such preferences, however, run afoul of the Fourteenth Amendment's prohibition against distinctions based on race. See Plessy, 163 U. S., at 555 (Harlan, J., dissenting). By contrast, school choice programs that involve religious schools
8 In 1997, approximately 68 percent of prisoners in state correctional institutions did not have a high school degree. See U. S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics-2000, p. 519 (Table 6.38).
9 These programs include tax credits for such schooling. In addition, 37 States have some type of charter school law. See School Choice 2001: What's Happening in the States xxv (R. Moffitt, J. Garrett, & J. Smith eds. 2001) (Table 1).
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