Southie Won't Go: A Teacher's Diary of the Desegregation of South Boston High School

by Ione Malloy

Describes the 1974 congfrontation between court officials, administrators, politicians, parents, teachers and students at South Boston High following the federal desegregation ruling

Genres: Nonfiction

286 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1986

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Memoir of a teacher at South Boston High during the first two years of the busing crisis.

[Prplpckl]

This book about the actual events of desegregation in Boston schools in the 70's just goes to show that when you let the government/courts take over too much and you ignore the actual experts (people in the jobs) things can go mightily wrong. The government's job is to ensure accountability that those people are doing the best job they can but to ignore them is to destroy the very foundation for the possibility for change. All those people doing their political posturing didn't accomplish anything either. If we just set the goal to educate kids to the best of our ability and strive to do better each year then maybe the public education system would be different. Americans are stubborn people and any plan to force them to "do" something probably will flop on its face. However doing nothing is also not an option. Empower those "experts" to do their job better and stop tying them up in red tape and perhaps you would finally get some results.

[Sandy Pfefferkorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book at a local thrift store and bought it because my husband and I had been through school desegregation in St. Louis when we were teachers. The author was an English teacher at South Boston High School who experienced the court-ordered desegregation as it happened. It was a fascinating account of the daily turmoil she and the rest of the faculty faced as they tried to deal with the influx of black students from Roxbury. Unlike our situation here in St. Louis, "Southie" experienced on-going violence from the first day. Eventually, the headmaster was made a scapegoat when he and the rest of the school's administrators were removed as the Federal judge placed the school in receivership, effectively destroying it.

[Deborah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a difficult read because of the subject matter (be prepared to be depressed and/or shocked), and both the topic and the format - a nearly daily chronicle of the years of busing at South Boston High School, detailing the number of students absent/present, the nature of the student fights, etc. - deterred me from really getting into the book. However, skimming it is worthwhile if you are interested in the subject.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

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