SpTp: MATH-SOCL Interdis Link

Before my first semester at Longwood, I was given the opportunity to sign up for a special topics class for the fall. This class was a combination of of Sociology and Statistics, neither subject in which i major in. Even though this is not a course that best suits my academic pursuits, I still wanted to partake in this course.

This course specifically studied the history of Prince Edward County School System and the effects on the surrounding counties. The surround counties are Cumberland, Appomattox, Buckingham, Amelia, Nottoway, Charlotte, and Lunenburg. In order to narrow down our results we focused on Cumberland, Appomattox, Buckingham, and Amelia. Our research analyzed the effects of the 1954 Brown v. Board case in those counties and how the increase in black students in public schools is leading towards the tendency of white flight, which is a consequence of the Racial Threat Theory, “the relationships between groups as a function of their competitive positions in political, economic, and social arenas” (Giles & Hertz, 1994).

Through extensive research, we found that the proportion of black residents in Prince Edward County has decreased, while the proportion of black students in their school system has increased. We did not find a causation for this.

In comparison to the surround counties, we found the percentage of black residents has decreased in all of the observed counties and Prince Edward County is the only school system to experience an increase in the percent of black students.

We gathered our data through various journals collected through the University’s database and we used the public Stat and Federal census online publications to compose our statistics.

This was my first research project as an Undergraduate student. Although there were some hiccups at times, the overall outcome was a success. Working with a group of Honors students taught me how to delegate and divide the work, while also maintaining my composure when faced with negative circumstances. This course has thoroughly prepared me for the next research projects that I will have to partake in.