Back in the early 1970s, when Detroit elected its first black mayor and the NAACP fought for cross-district bussing in Detroit, about a third of school-aged children in the city were white. Today, only 4% are white and most metro Detroit schools are dominated by a single race/ethnicity: white, black, or Hispanic. This piece, part of an NPR series, asks whether or not educational diversity matters any more – in Detroit or elsewhere – and concludes that its value is elusive. JP Dewitt says there is currently “no magic number” to measure the societal value of integration in education or what would help attain it. The author says she sees very little urgency in research or society to gauge what greater diversity would accomplish in schools.

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