The United States has been regarded as the "melting pot" of cultures when it actually has been a "scrap pile" of cultures refusing to melt. In this setting there is a constant struggle to reach solutions to community problems with much attention given to dominant group needs and little given to other-group needs. Although the best opportunities for solutions to community problems are through public education, it suffers from the same forces that resist change in the larger society. As in the larger society, national concerns are constantly being diverted to new, overbearing crises while the old are ignored. Such has been the case with desegregation. Blacks have been treated as caste minorities and given an education that does not prepare them for the same adult roles as those available to whites. The consequences of this disparity make it a moral issue. The most certain way to build confidence in the school desegregation process is to involve community citizens. The present is a good time to use redistricting to achieve desegregation because economic conditions have slowed "white flight". Complete desegregation is the major step toward providing equal opportunity in the classroom and in the real world. (Author/IRT)