The average white pupil attends a school in which, compared to the average Negro pupil, a - larger proportion of both teachers and prinicpals express unqualified support for neighborhood elementary schools and a smaller percent of both teachers and principals believe in bussing elementary pupils to a school other than their neighborhood school. This statement is true virtually without exception when we look at the separate regions, although there is some indication that the magnitude of the difference runs higher in the South than in any of the other regions. Elementary teachers and principals are somewhat more likely to affirm support for the neighborhood school than are their secondary school counterparts, and elementary teachers less often voice support of bussing than do their counterparts at the secondary level.

Negro pupils are more likely than white pupils to have teachers and principals, elementary and secondary, who favor compensatory educational programs for the culturally disadvantaged. These comparisons should not mask the fact that overall there is a generally high level of support for the policy of compensatory education; for example, four-fifths of the Negroes and two-thirds of the whites have principals who favor it. In the Nation and in all regions, the average Negro pupil is more likely than the average white pupil to attend a school in which the teachers and principals believe that it is educationally sound to have at least some teachers of a race different from the student's. Strongest support for such a policy is voiced by both the teachers of Negro and white pupils in the metropolitan West and Northeast regions. Almost equally strong endorsement comes from

metropolitan areas of the Southwest. In contrast, the teachers of whites in these same areas oppose a racial mix of faculty and student body more strongly than do their counterparts in any other area. It should be noted, however, that the elementary school teachers of white children in counties where Negroes are concentrated generally tend to favor such a policy more strongly than the teachers of the average white in the same areas (table 2.35.3). Generally, the same observations apply for principals as apply for teachers. For minority groups other than Negro, the average pupil in any such group attends a school in which the teachers and principals generally are less likely than comparable whites but more likely than comparable Negroes to prefer to teach white-collar pupils; to prefer to teach AngloSaxon pupils; to prefer to teach all whites; and to prefer to teach high-ability pupils. Teachers of minorities other than Negro are highly similar to the national average in the proportion who believe in bussing, in neighborhood schools, and in compensatory education. They are more likely than teachers of whites, but less likely than teachers of Negroes, to believe that it is good policy for whites to teach nonwhite pupils.

Highlights. Compared to the average white pupil, the average Negro pupil attends a school in which the teachers

-less often prefer to teach children from
white-collar and professional homes.
-less often prefer to teach Anglo-Saxon
pupils.

-less often prefer to teach white pupils.

-less often prefer to teach high-ability pupils. (However, preference for these types of pupils does not in any instance characterize a majority of the teachers of the average white.)

-less often favor the concept of the neighbor-
hood school.

-favor bussing of elementary pupils.
-favor compensatory education at extra
cost (although a strong majority of the
teachers of whites also favor it).
-agree that it is educationally sound to
have white teachers for nonwhite pupils
and nonwhite faculties for white pupils.

An important part of a child's school environment consists not of the physical facilities of the school, the curriculum, and the teachers, but of his fellow-students. A child's fellow-students provide challenges to achievement and distractions from achievement; they provide the opportunities to learn outside the classroom, through association and casual discussions. Indeed, when parents and educators think of a "good school" in a community, they most often measure it by the kind of student body it contains: collegebound and high achieving. Parents strive to send their children to such "good schools," recognizing that whatever the quality of the staff, curriculum, and facilities, the level of instruction must be geared to the student body itself.

The examination below will describe the characteristics of the student body that the average minority group child-Negro, Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Indian, or Oriental Americanfinds himself in. Where the schools are highly segregated, the characteristics of this student body are largely the same as those of the average minority group child himself—and it is this that constitutes one of the difficulties such a child faces in trying to participate in the larger society. It compounds such a child's problem by holding him in the environment of his origins, and keeping out of reach the environment of the larger society. 2.41 Average racial composition of classmates

In the Nation, at the elementary school level (table 2.41.1) the average child attends a school where 74 percent of his classmates are white. However, when we look at the races individually

see that the total average figures conceal racial imbalance or isolation. For example, the average white elementary school child attends a school where 87 percent of his classmates are white. The average Negro attends a school where 16 percent of his classmates are white. This figure is in part the result of the uneven distribution of the different races geographically throughout the country. However, there are other factors at work as can be seen by the finding that the average white child in the same county with Negroes attends a school where 76 percent not 16 percent of the children are white. Table 2.41.2 shows that the isolation of Negroes is

How

the nonmetropolitan South and nonmetropolitan Southwest. Segregation of Negroes is least in the nonmetropolitan North and West. This is largely the result of the relatively sparse Negro population in the nonmetropolitan North and West. Conversely, considering this fact, it is perhaps surprising that the average Negro elementary school child in the nonmetropolitan North and West attends a school where only a little over half of his classmates are white. ever, if racial isolation is defined by the isolation of whites standardized by county with Negroes, the metropolitan Midwest joins the nonmetropolitan and metropolitan South as the sectors of the country with the most racial isolation. The metropolitan West emerges as the sector with the least racial isolation of whites. Racial isolation varies a great deal between elementary and secondary grades. In all nonmetropolitan areas and in the metropolitan South, the isolation of whites is greater or about the same at the secondary level compared with the elementary level. On the other hand, outside the South and Southwest, the isolation of Negroes tends to be greater at the elementary level compared with the secondary level. In the South and Southwest, Negroes are about equally isolated in elementary and secondary grades.

These findings require some explanation. The difference between these two patterns is probably the result of the different nature of de facto segregation and residual segregation deriving from a dual system. Outside the South and Southwest, the greater isolation of Negroes in elementary

patterns of residential segregation producing de facto segregated elementary schools. De facto segregated secondary schools are less common because senior high schools typically draw students from a wider area than elementary schools.

2.42 Home background

The second characteristic of student environment examined will be home background of classmates. Included in this treatment will be parents' education, structural integrity of home, number of siblings in home, items in home, reading matter in home, parents' educational desires, parents' interest in education.

Parents' education.-Table 2.42.1 examines the average education of the mothers of the classmates of students of different races. In the Nation, the average child attends a school where the majority of the students have mothers that are at least high school graduates. Elementary school pupils have more fellow pupils whose mothers have only some high school or less. Some uncertainty is created, however, by the higher percent of pupils that responded "Don't Know" at the elementary compared with the secondary level. Part of the difference is probably the result of higher dropout rates among children of less educated parents. Comparing the races, the average minority group member is more often in classes with pupils whose mothers are less educated than is the average white. The differences are especially great for Negroes and Puerto Ricans. Table 2.42.2 shows that for Negroes this trend exists in all regions of the country, although the gap is somewhat greater in the South than elsewhere in the country.

Structural integrity of home.-Table 2.42.1 also examines the structural integrity of the homes of the classmates of the pupils of different races. Structural integrity of family is measured by whether or not the child reported that his acting parent was both his real parent and was living at home. For the Nation as a whole, the average student is in classes where about 90 percent of the students reported that their real mother was living at home. The figure for fathers was about 80 percent. Negro and Puerto Rican children are especially likely to be in classes with a large number of students from broken homes. Table 2.42.2 shows that the gap between Negroes and whites exists in all sectors of the country. There is a tendency for the gap to be greatest in the South and Southwest.

Number of children in family.-Table 2.42.3 examines the number of children in families of the classmates of students of different races. This is, among other things, a rough measure of the economic level of the family. The table compares the races on percent of pupils from families with one or two more children. Nationwide, the average secondary school pupil is in classes where about 20 percent of the pupils come from families with one or two children. The minority group children are consistently in classes with children from larger families than majority group children. The gap is especially great for Negroes and Puerto Ricans. Table 2.42.4 shows that the gap between Negroes and whites exists in all sectors of the country, but the gap is the greatest in the South.