This booklet is issued by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in the Commission's hope that it can help "separate fact from fiction and dispel many of the unfounded fears that underlie the controversy so troubling the nation." The first section discusses the history and background of busing, showing that busing is a long established and widely used means of getting American children to and from their classrooms. In the second section is traced the legal history of desegregation and the logical steps through which the U.S. Supreme Court decided that busing is a proper means of accomplishing desegregation. The third section focuses on some of the fears and myths about busing, and the arguments that are commonly used against busing. Some of the issues discussed are: a child has a right to attend a neighborhood school; busing puts a child out of reach when school illnesses and injuries occur; buses are not safe; fights and racial clashes occur on buses; busing forces children to spend long hours away from home; minority Americans are just as opposed to busing as majority Americans; busing is too expensive; money spent on busing should instead be spent on education; busing prevents students from taking part in extra-curricular activities; busing would carry students to dangerous neighborhoods; busing penalizes white students by setting them back until other students catch up; and, it is not for the schools to cure social ills. (Author/RJ)