Charles Willie is a Professor of Education emeritus at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a sociologist
whose areas of research include desegregation, higher education, public health, race relations, urban community problems, and family
life. He was appointed by President Carter to the President's Commission on Mental Health, and is the author of over one hundred
articles and twenty-five books on issues of race, education, and urban communities.
Having attended segregated schools, Professor Willie thinks that Brown deserves a high place in the literature of liberty
in the United States, but that it must also be put in proper historical perspective. He proceeds to dissect the purpose for the
founding of the United States: to establish a more perfect union and to establish justice. He argues, "We started out in the United
States by forgetting that we were supposed to be equitable," referring to the status of women and minorities. The US has never joined
excellence and equity, and "What Brown did, then, is restored equity to the educational system of the United States and to many other systems."
An increased focus on equity has been troubling people who are interested in excellence only, but "[e]quity is not the
enemy of excellence and excellence is not the enemy of equity. You’ve got to put them together." Professor Willie points to a possible
correlation between the widening of the educational gap in the 1980s and the establishment of the National Commission for Excellence in
Education. The Commission indicated that you should never let excellence and equity separate, yet the Commission didn't have a single
recommendation about desegregation.
Professor Willie states, "We have to be thankful that Brown came upon America to help it correct itself." As evidence, he
cites the dramatic rise in the graduation rates for both whites and blacks after the Brown decision. He also stresses the importance of
diversity in our society and quotes a line by Howard Gardner that states, "there is no such thing as a single intelligence." Professor
Willie indicates, "we have to stop letting ourselves become prisoners of only a few intelligences, when there's a whole range that
you'll need if you're to keep a nation afoot."
Professor Ogletree concludes by encouraging similar forums and discussion in the future. He says we should be willing to
confront any of the aspects and challenges discussed if we are truly to meet the goals of our Constitution, the goals of the Declaration
of Independence, the goals of the Brown decision, and the goals of America.
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