Affinity Classes - The Work Wire

Join us as we discuss a controversial initiative at Evanston Township High School in Illinois to introduce voluntary "affinity classes" for black and Latino students in some subjects. These classes would be taught by teachers of color and only include black and Latino students, with the goal of addressing achievement gaps. However, Bob Goodwin and Johnny Taylor Jr. had significant concerns about this approach, seeing it as a form of segregation that could disadvantage students long-term and fail to prepare them for integrated environments in college and the workforce. We discussed potential unintended consequences and the need to carefully evaluate outcomes over multiple timeframes to determine if this approach is truly effective or causes more harm than good.