The most intractable problems of racial segregation in public schools are those that currently exist in the nation's largest metropolitan areas. The impact of black migration to the cities from the rural South and of white flight from central cities to the suburbs have created not simply racially segregated schools, but segregated school districts. The author of this paper presents reasons for the consequent desirability of a metropolitan approach to school desegregation in urban areas. Other approaches to integration have been suggested. In order for the school segregation problem to be solved through integrating housing, extremely strong Federal support would be required. Even so, it would be many years before steps taken in this regard could have a significant impact upon metropolitan area segregation. To try to solve the problem through greater employment opportunities is similarly impractical. It would be difficult for our society to deal with the problem of minority exclusion from the best jobs without first critically improving urban public education. Therefore, this author believes that the solution to our present segregation problems begins with the public schools. From an examination of the experiences of several metropolitan areas that have desegregated, he concludes that interdistrict school desegregation remedies are administratively feasible, need not impair local control over education, and do not require excessive busing. Further, a metropolitan approach to desegregation provides for stability, maximizes prospects for educational gains, and actually offers educational advantages beyond those of integration. The author closes with a review of the prospects for such an approach. (GC)