Black schools in the south were grossly underfunded. They did have the advantage that the limited opportunities for educated Black men were limited, and that te

Black schools in the south were grossly underfunded. They did have the advantage that the limited opportunities for educated Black men were limited, and that teaching therefore wasn't a bad career option. (The Vietnam draft produced a similar but passing effect for White males: if you were teaching, they wouldn't cut off your hair and send you to Vietnam.) I really don't think that desegregation made the schooling of Black kids worse that it had been. That's pretty faint praise, of course. I did go to an all-boys high school. It was OK. The main effect was to leave me feeling that I had had enough male bonding to last me a lifetime. An acquaintance in college suggested that I might join his fraternity, and I said, No way.