BusSibling studies show busing raises attainment but lowers self-esteem.

Evidence

However, there is also data which includes a study of minority siblings where one child is bussed and the other remains at the neighborhood school, therefore controlling for the family background variable. This study found that the sibling that was bussed into a white neighborhood school had a decreased drop-out rate and an increased likelihood to attend college, but they also suffered from lower self-esteem (Olzak, 5-2-99). — Marcy Crouch, Magnet Schools and Other Means of…, 30

Categorization

• QUESTION: The sibling design is elegant: does the self-esteem cost persist, or fade once the bussed sibling reaches college and career?
• DEEPTHINKING: Captures a genuine paradox - the same intervention that lifts a child’s measurable life outcomes can simultaneously damage their sense of self, forcing a reckoning with what ‘benefit’ even means.