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Can socioeconomic diversity restore the promise of school integration?

Religious topics have long been a touchy subject in public schools and none of them touchier than atheism. For young people though, the taboo surrounding unbelief appears to be disappearing. Recent surveys have found that younger Americans are the least likely to be religious. According to the American Religious Identification Survey, 29 percent of 18-29 year olds are religiously unaffiliated, compared with 15 percent of the population as a whole. And a 2006 Pew Research poll found that 1 in 5 young people said they have no religious affiliation, nearly double the proportion of the late 1980s.

As sure as October brings pumpkins and pep rallies, TT Director Maureen Costello knows she’ll hear dis-spiriting news about a school’s offensive choice of spirit week theme. Yesterday was no exception.

This teacher’s musings about Max from Where the Wild Things Are leads to a reflection on the ways educators can close opportunity gaps for their students.

In 1957, nine black schoolchildren enrolled at Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., and compelled the nation to live up to its promise of equality. Fifty years later, Central High's teachers and students revisit the past to help shape the future.

Local history advocates say preservation, education and healing should include community redevelopment and respecting the agency of descendants of enslaved people.