FRANK P. BELCASTRO Dubuque, IA

The Schott Foundation for Public Education, which tracks the educational progress of black males, issued its most recent report on “the school performance of African-American males.” The organization found “that 53% of black males did not receive diplomas with their cohort during the 2005-06 school year.”

A research consultant with the foundation noted “that schools enrolling large numbers of black male students are not as good as schools with a larger population of white students: The teachers are not as experienced and effective, the schools lack resources, and the curriculum is not as challenging.”

The consultant added that non-black students enrolled at such schools also did not graduate at the same rate as their counterparts in schools that had fewer black students.

Since 1991, no progress has been made as noted in Jonathan Kozol’s book of that year, Savage Inequalities. Nearly separate and equal should also be unconstitutional. Racism is alive and well in education.