Question

An excerpt from Brown Vs. Board of Education, 1954. Segregation of white and Negro children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment -- even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors of white and Negro schools may be equal. (a) The history of the Fourteenth Amendment is inconclusive as to its intended effect on public education. (b) The question presented in these cases must be determined not on the basis of conditions existing when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted, but in the light of the full development of public education and its present place in American life throughout the Nation. (c) Where a State has undertaken to provide an opportunity for an education in its public schools, such an opportunity is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms. (d) Segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprives children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal. (e) The "separate but equal" doctrine adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, has no place in the field of public education. (f) The cases are restored to the docket for further argument on specified questions relating to the forms of the decrees. Why does the court determine that the notion of "separate but equal" ought not apply to this case? A) Because public education changes the rules of the game, necessitating racial integration. B) Because the Plessy V. Ferguson case is still pertinent. C) Because "separate but equal," if sound in theory, has never worked out in practice, and thus must be abandoned everywhere. D) Because the Fourteenth Amendment militates against "separate but equal" and insists upon integration in all cases.

Answer 1

The correct answer is C.

Brown v. Board of Education was a case that led to the enactment of a landmark decision by the US Supreme Court in 1954.

The case was about the constitutionality of the "separate but equal" lemma that was accepted in a former decision enacted by the US Supreme Court in 1896 in the Plessy v. Ferguson case. Such decision allowed the proliferation of segregated schools under the belief that, if facilities were equal in quality, such education system was not violating the equality of rights provision that had been guaranteed for all US citizens by the Reconstruction Amendments to the US Constitution.

Brown v. Board of Education overturned the abovementioned previous Supreme Court decision and declared segregation unconstitutional, claming that, in practice, it actually deprived black students. The court published a deadline and all public schools nationwide had to abolish such practice and to adopt racial integration.

Answer 2

The correct answer is: A) Because public education changes the rules of the game, necessitating racial integration

While the answer is poorly written, the base theory is correct.

Public Education was the perfect vehicle to expose the absurdities of the segregated system of society in the United States and forced a reexamination of segregation policies.