Promoting Positive Peer Relations in Desegregated Schools

Abstract

This article suggests that desegregation should be seen as an ongoing process rather than a specific event. It argues that more attention needs to be given to shaping students' experiences in desegregated schools so that they foster positive intergroup relations. The first minimal step in this process is finding ways to avoid resegregation. Then administrators and teachers must work to create an environment in which minority and majority group members have equal status and interact in a cooperative rather than a competitive atmosphere. Ways in which the color-blind perspective can impede this process are discussed.