No Child Left Behind and the Denigration of Race

Abstract

Race is the social expression of power and privilege, and new racial configurations take shape in conjuction with alterations in the political economy of American society. This article examines the relationship of educational policy to the emergence of a new conception of racism that has appeared in the post-civil rights era: colorblind racism. Colorblind policies are championed as fair and just, congruent with the egalitarian aspirations of the Civil Rights Movement that culminated in the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. In rendering invisible the salience of race, the goal of colorblindness is to make advantage appear as a logical consequence of the natural order of things. The non-recognition of race as a form of political power tacitly enables the colorblind ideal to steer education policy toward the reinforcement of the dominant culture as the norm and the maintenance of hegemonic social arrangements. The insinuation of colorblindness into the culture of educational policymaking, and of No Child Left Behind in particular, suggests that substantive educational restructuring may not be part of the nation's racial agenda.