Tuesday, May 26, 2015

"Can Racism Be Stopped in the Third Grade?"

"An experiment at Fieldston, which starts when 8-year-olds are sorted by race, has some very liberal parents fuming."
The form arrived in an email attachment on the Friday after winter break.“What is your race?”it asked. And then, beneath that, a Census-style list: “African-American/Black,” “Asian/Pacific Islander,” “Latina/o,” “Multi-racial,” “White,” and “Not sure.”

The email, signed by the principal of Fieldston Lower School, urged parents to talk about these categories with their children at home because the next week, in school, the kids would have to check the box that fit them best. “I know there may be some nervous feelings about this program,” the email concluded, but “I am confident that once you hear more details about it … the value and importance of this work will become clear.”

The parents at Lower, as it’s called, are a bighearted, high-maintenance, high-achieving group. They are also, by the standards of the New York City private-school universe, exceedingly liberal — educators and social workers, as well as hedge-fund tycoons. They love the school, and trust it, mostly. But this communication seized their attention. “I was like, Wait. What?” remembers one mother. Another quizzed her 11-year-old daughter as they were driving. “We have to go in our race groups” was how the girl explained it. The mother hoped her daughter had misunderstood. (read more)

10 comments:

ricpic said...

The best and the brightest are complete schizophrenics. On the one hand they want to separate these kids racially so that they'll have more honest conversations about what it is to be white or black. On the other hand the goal of the program is to boost the black kids' self-confidence and let the white kids know that they're inherently racist. Either those instituting the program know damn well what they're doing while denying it, or they're so far round the bend they don't even see the glaring contradiction.

Trooper York said...

I don't think this going to work out the way they think it will.

The white and Asian kids will prosper while the others will fall farther and father behind. Stewing in teacher inspired racial resentment all the while.

Trooper York said...

If I were a white or Asian parent I would say where do I sign?

Amartel said...

Progressives jump-starting racism, the earlier the better. Race matters, kids! A LOT!!! Look what a big deal we're making about it. Soak in our self-serving racism explanations; we are good, they (them out there, maybe even your parents some of whom seem suspiciously suspicious) are bad. Divide and conquer, race against race, child against parent, now starting even earlier and even more divisively in the subject's life, all for the betterment of the progressive utopian dream that will never come true but makes us feel good about ourselves.

Amartel said...

Note that the Asian kids feel left out of the institutional black/white racism equation. That's racist! albeit in a way no one (in the institution) cares about because it does not serve the narrative of the right kind of what oppression. Yah, throw the Asian kids a bone by mentioning their complaint.

Amartel said...

Ha! "what" should be "white"

Amartel said...

Not enough money in the world for me to send my kid to this house of horrors.

Known Unknown said...

What about the Blue Man Group's children? Huh? What about them?

rcocean said...

You want to stop Racism in 3rd grade? Just hold them back in 2nd grade.

Problem solved.

rcommal said...

Unsurprised.