[A story partially derived from my upcoming book on public education.]
Amazing Success
This tale of Unintended Consequences ranges across more than 150 years to focus on an incredible school in Washington, D.C. It is a tale of remarkable success and an epic failure, but don’t make any judgements until we get to the end.
Welcome to the amazing story of Dunbar High School.1 Why is this particular school important? A little background…
Dunbar High School was founded in 1870 in Washington, D.C.
It was the FIRST public high school for black students in America.
Dunbar had a magnificent record as an academically elite school throughout the 1800’s, the Civil War, and the rough historical context that impacted our society up through 1954.
Important —> Dunbar was designated as an “Academic High School” in D.C. (as opposed to other schools in the city that focused on technical or vocational training at the time). As the first black high school AND carrying the designation as an Academic High School in a major city, they attracted the best and brightest faculty from around the country with advanced degrees and doctorates.
The graduates of Dunbar were no less accomplished. They included:
the first black general in the Army;
the first black woman to receive a Ph.D.;
the first black Senator since Reconstruction;
the first black graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy;
delegates to Congress, Judges, noted scholars, lawyers, politicians, surgeons, and many more.
What Made Dunbar Great
Any black student from ANY district in D.C. who “wanted” to go to Dunbar and could find a way to get there could attend Dunbar (big spoiler alert). Students (many encouraged by their parents I’m sure) CHOSE to attend Dunbar over any other school in the district.
This desire by most of the attendees to be at that school minimized the negative impact of disruptive or disinterested students prevalent at many other schools.
The academic standards were challenging, the esprit de corps was high, and the dedication of the faculty and the students was unmatched at most schools. Any black student in D.C. who aspired to more sought out a place at Dunbar. The triumphs of the school continued to flourish from 1870 to 1954.
Then… Everything Changed
Our nation was desperate (and rightly so) to end segregation, the Jim Crow laws, and anything related to them at that time. As a result, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously (9-0) in Brown v. Board of Education that public-school segregation was unconstitutional.
Excellent ruling! Exactly the right choice! Nobody would ever doubt that.
However, considering our focus here, we begin to realize that danger doesn’t always come from the changes we make, but from the consequences we did not foresee. The “unspoken rule of unintended consequences resulting from good intentions” led to the destruction of everything that Dunbar High School was in those early days.
IMPORTANT: I do NOT for one second mean to disparage today’s Dunbar High School, the teachers, or the administration. I’m sure it is a fine school of this generation of city schools.
I am sure there are some wonderful teachers at Dunbar, however, the Supreme Court ruling ensured that the school could no longer exhibit the same exemplary academic excellence that distinguished it pre-1954 as it likely suffers from the same issues that plague many urban schools now.
But What Change Brought It All Down?
I chose Dunbar for our story for a reason. I ask you first to consider WHAT made Dunbar so incredible pre-1954.
What was the difference that made them such a spectacular success?
Why were the best and brightest teachers across the U.S. attracted to this school?
Why did parents in D.C. sacrifice so much to get their kids to Dunbar daily?
Why did students embrace the school so much?
I think it all boils down to a simple concept. The students WANTED to be there. Yes, they had rigorous academics driven by some of the best and brightest teachers in the country, but what brought it all together was that…
Students from all over D.C. traveled to THAT school
because they aspired to a better future.
Dunbar was the only pathway for many of them.
With the ruling by the Supreme Court that struck down segregation as unconstitutional, Dunbar, along with all other schools in D.C. were forced to restrict enrollment in the school to ONLY those who lived in that school district. All of the schools were now “neighborhood schools” and Dunbar by all reports was located in a rough ghetto district.
So What?
Arguably, what made Dunbar so exceptional was the students and their desire to succeed by going to that school. Not a school based on where they happened to live, but THAT school. They chose to go there to aspire to something better. This led to the exceptional teachers coming to the school and the cycle propagated.
When Dunbar was forced to become a neighborhood school, they could only accept students who lived in the neighborhood. The school was flooded with students who were unmotivated, unruly, and disruptive. Many of the new students did not want to be in school at all and had no aspirations for a better education. Not all of course, but enough to make a difference.
The students who wanted to travel to come to Dunbar were no longer allowed. This and the ensuing disruption quickly led to many of the exceptional teachers who had gathered at Dunbar to retire early or move away.
The cycle was broken. The magic was gone. Dunbar became just another typically troubled inner-city school.
Causation of Unintended Consequences
Again, I have no desire to disparage any school, especially Dunbar, they have a glorious history that must NOT be discounted. However, it is necessary to be brutally honest if we are to understand the power of Unintended Consequences.
The Supreme Court made the correct decision. The problem is that nobody looked deeper into the actual boots-on-the-ground impact of what they were doing. It was all done with a big grand stroke of the pen and everything changed nationwide.
We have to ask if there might have been other exceptional schools brought down to the lowest common denominator without a single consideration that they could or should be saved? Maybe there were other Dunbar’s out there.
I am not saying the Supreme Court should have made a different decision. BUT, maybe school districts across the nation should have examined the schools within their districts and done a study on what the change would mean to the students it was intended to protect.
They might have recognized that Dunbar was something special and done something to protect the incredible work they were doing. One option might hvae been to make Dunbar an “Open” school, allowing them to accept all students, regardless of color, from all of D.C. This would have retained at least some of the magic.
Unfortunately, nobody bothered to look down at where they were stepping.
The Art of Unintended Consequences reigns true and, as always, those who suffer from the unintended consequences are NOT those who create them.
Have you experienced or heard about anything that resulted in unintended consequences? Reach out to me here or comment on the story. I would love to hear about your experience.
Dunbar High School, Washington, D.C. https://www.dunbarhsdc.org/.