Is it possible to teach kids to be inclusive and not racist when

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I attended a meeting in June about diversity in MCPS, where a black Whitman parent presented the situation very powerfully. The (white) Principal also spoke, and he seemed motivated and engaged, as were the central admin representatives (all black).

Apparently they are implementing a series of trainings and meetings for the various stakeholders (students, staff, parents) over the course of this coming school year, which they hope will turn the atmosphere around. I wish them well, but the weakest link here are the (non-black) parents who think that all this does not apply to them because "they are not racist". If everyone doesn't engage in the conversation about what's appropriate behavior and what's not, someone will end up doing something stupid once again. The easiest people to reach is the choir. It's the hard=to-reach folk who need the most training.

What exactly are the white parents supposed to do about it? They should encourage their kids to be friends with everyone but reality is kids self-segregate at all schools. If I was a minority there is no way I'd move to an area and send my child to a school where there was little diversity. Same a when I worked in DC, I was hired to be the diversity and it was very difficult. Some treated me very well and others were clear I was not welcome.

You clearly don't know what happened there. There were three racial incidents in the past school year, the last of which was a white student posting a photo of herself in blackface with the n-word in a sentence.
There are non-black families who clearly don't understand what's so wrong about this, and even for the ones who do understand, most probably didn't think to spell it out to their kids. So this is about EDUCATING youth in a connected world, where they find inspiration online, outside their immediate circle, to do dumb things, and being specific about it.

I heard that the N word was scripted on to the photo by another person. Is it true?

[Anonymous]

The point is that black kids don't feel comfortable in the environment and have been targeted. That's one incident but the problem is bigger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I attended a meeting in June about diversity in MCPS, where a black Whitman parent presented the situation very powerfully. The (white) Principal also spoke, and he seemed motivated and engaged, as were the central admin representatives (all black).

Apparently they are implementing a series of trainings and meetings for the various stakeholders (students, staff, parents) over the course of this coming school year, which they hope will turn the atmosphere around. I wish them well, but the weakest link here are the (non-black) parents who think that all this does not apply to them because "they are not racist". If everyone doesn't engage in the conversation about what's appropriate behavior and what's not, someone will end up doing something stupid once again. The easiest people to reach is the choir. It's the hard=to-reach folk who need the most training.

What exactly are the white parents supposed to do about it? They should encourage their kids to be friends with everyone but reality is kids self-segregate at all schools. If I was a minority there is no way I'd move to an area and send my child to a school where there was little diversity. Same a when I worked in DC, I was hired to be the diversity and it was very difficult. Some treated me very well and others were clear I was not welcome.

You clearly don't know what happened there. There were three racial incidents in the past school year, the last of which was a white student posting a photo of herself in blackface with the n-word in a sentence.
There are non-black families who clearly don't understand what's so wrong about this, and even for the ones who do understand, most probably didn't think to spell it out to their kids. So this is about EDUCATING youth in a connected world, where they find inspiration online, outside their immediate circle, to do dumb things, and being specific about it.

I heard that the N word was scripted on to the photo by another person. Is it true?

We don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I attended a meeting in June about diversity in MCPS, where a black Whitman parent presented the situation very powerfully. The (white) Principal also spoke, and he seemed motivated and engaged, as were the central admin representatives (all black).

Apparently they are implementing a series of trainings and meetings for the various stakeholders (students, staff, parents) over the course of this coming school year, which they hope will turn the atmosphere around. I wish them well, but the weakest link here are the (non-black) parents who think that all this does not apply to them because "they are not racist". If everyone doesn't engage in the conversation about what's appropriate behavior and what's not, someone will end up doing something stupid once again. The easiest people to reach is the choir. It's the hard=to-reach folk who need the most training.

What exactly are the white parents supposed to do about it? They should encourage their kids to be friends with everyone but reality is kids self-segregate at all schools. If I was a minority there is no way I'd move to an area and send my child to a school where there was little diversity. Same a when I worked in DC, I was hired to be the diversity and it was very difficult. Some treated me very well and others were clear I was not welcome.

You clearly don't know what happened there. There were three racial incidents in the past school year, the last of which was a white student posting a photo of herself in blackface with the n-word in a sentence.
There are non-black families who clearly don't understand what's so wrong about this, and even for the ones who do understand, most probably didn't think to spell it out to their kids. So this is about EDUCATING youth in a connected world, where they find inspiration online, outside their immediate circle, to do dumb things, and being specific about it.

No I don't get it as I would never send my white child to a school like that. You cannot blame all the white kids/parents for the actions of a select few. We choose a diverse community and school and in all reality those also have racial issues and segregation with the parents and kids. There is no idea utopia for any school. But, if I was a minority parent, there is no way I'd even consider a community with those statistics. Most of those people move there to self-segregate and are proud of themselves for doing so. Anyone moving to that community does't care about diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:there are essentially no black kids in their school? It's my understanding that the few black kids at whitman are leaving for private, AND that the principal has made it a mission to create an inclusive student body that doesn't target anyone because of their differences. This is a laudible goal, but is it possible for him to be successful in that goal when there's no diversity to speak of at the school? I'm hoping he can make progress, obviously, but am upset that the little diversity there was is now basically nonexistent.

It's 33 percent minority; how is that "basically nonexistent "?

What?! Minority does not necessarily equal black. Whitman is:

66.8% white
8.7% hispanic
15.2% asian
and less than 5% any other group, including black

So you agree, diversity is not "basically nonexistent "

The question was about black student representation. Can you read or do you just think all non-white kids are the same?

I guess the question is, do you think that "diversity" only means black students. That's what the OP suggested, that's what you seem to be saying, and I'm saying that 33% non-white IS diverse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I attended a meeting in June about diversity in MCPS, where a black Whitman parent presented the situation very powerfully. The (white) Principal also spoke, and he seemed motivated and engaged, as were the central admin representatives (all black).

Apparently they are implementing a series of trainings and meetings for the various stakeholders (students, staff, parents) over the course of this coming school year, which they hope will turn the atmosphere around. I wish them well, but the weakest link here are the (non-black) parents who think that all this does not apply to them because "they are not racist". If everyone doesn't engage in the conversation about what's appropriate behavior and what's not, someone will end up doing something stupid once again. The easiest people to reach is the choir. It's the hard=to-reach folk who need the most training.

What exactly are the white parents supposed to do about it? They should encourage their kids to be friends with everyone but reality is kids self-segregate at all schools. If I was a minority there is no way I'd move to an area and send my child to a school where there was little diversity. Same a when I worked in DC, I was hired to be the diversity and it was very difficult. Some treated me very well and others were clear I was not welcome.

You clearly don't know what happened there. There were three racial incidents in the past school year, the last of which was a white student posting a photo of herself in blackface with the n-word in a sentence.
There are non-black families who clearly don't understand what's so wrong about this, and even for the ones who do understand, most probably didn't think to spell it out to their kids. So this is about EDUCATING youth in a connected world, where they find inspiration online, outside their immediate circle, to do dumb things, and being specific about it.

No I don't get it as I would never send my white child to a school like that. You cannot blame all the white kids/parents for the actions of a select few. We choose a diverse community and school and in all reality those also have racial issues and segregation with the parents and kids. There is no idea utopia for any school. But, if I was a minority parent, there is no way I'd even consider a community with those statistics. Most of those people move there to self-segregate and are proud of themselves for doing so. Anyone moving to that community does't care about diversity.

I think is is simply true. Diversity is highly overrated, and there isn’t any real upside to it for the non-diverse. Everyone who seeks out these neighborhoods knows this. What is really tiresome is people who move to places like this and endlessly lie about it and preen about how much they love diversity and how they are just so sad it isn’t quite working out. Their revealed preferences are to the contrary. The lies and hypocrisy are toxic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:there are essentially no black kids in their school? It's my understanding that the few black kids at whitman are leaving for private, AND that the principal has made it a mission to create an inclusive student body that doesn't target anyone because of their differences. This is a laudible goal, but is it possible for him to be successful in that goal when there's no diversity to speak of at the school? I'm hoping he can make progress, obviously, but am upset that the little diversity there was is now basically nonexistent.

It's 33 percent minority; how is that "basically nonexistent "?

It is most definitely not 33% minority..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:there are essentially no black kids in their school? It's my understanding that the few black kids at whitman are leaving for private, AND that the principal has made it a mission to create an inclusive student body that doesn't target anyone because of their differences. This is a laudible goal, but is it possible for him to be successful in that goal when there's no diversity to speak of at the school? I'm hoping he can make progress, obviously, but am upset that the little diversity there was is now basically nonexistent.

It's 33 percent minority; how is that "basically nonexistent "?

It is most definitely not 33% minority..

Sure it is. About 2/3 white, 1/3 not white. But non-white people aren't fungible.

Is Whitman "lily-white"? No (though it is the whitest high school in Montgomery County).

Does Whitman have a significant number of students who are black? No. As I recall, 5% or less of the student population is black.

Is that an important characteristic of Whitman? Yes. See above, non-white people aren't fungible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I think is is simply true. Diversity is highly overrated, and there isn’t any real upside to it for the non-diverse. Everyone who seeks out these neighborhoods knows this. What is really tiresome is people who move to places like this and endlessly lie about it and preen about how much they love diversity and how they are just so sad it isn’t quite working out. Their revealed preferences are to the contrary. The lies and hypocrisy are toxic.

There's a lot of projection going on there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:there are essentially no black kids in their school? It's my understanding that the few black kids at whitman are leaving for private, AND that the principal has made it a mission to create an inclusive student body that doesn't target anyone because of their differences. This is a laudible goal, but is it possible for him to be successful in that goal when there's no diversity to speak of at the school? I'm hoping he can make progress, obviously, but am upset that the little diversity there was is now basically nonexistent.

It's 33 percent minority; how is that "basically nonexistent "?

It is most definitely not 33% minority..

It’s 33% non-white. Apparently there are differences of opinion about whether Asian “counts” as a minority in this county. Asian includes a range of skin tones including not just Japanese/Chinese/Korean but also South Asian (Indian, Malaysian, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids learn to be inclusive by having parents who are inclusive. OP, do you have a diverse set of friends? Who do you invite to your home? If everyone important in your family's life looks just like you, you’re sending a message stronger than what your kids would learn from having a black kid in their chemistry class.

I agree with the diverse set of friends piece here. Having diverse friends speaks volumes. .

[Anonymous]

How about this-the school focuses ob providing the strongest academic experience possible. And when it has extra time and resources to support things not focused on academics, it uses those resources on academics.

[Anonymous]

He could hire some black teachers.

Mire ideas:
https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/may2018/teaching-learning-race-and-racism

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about this-the school focuses ob providing the strongest academic experience possible. And when it has extra time and resources to support things not focused on academics, it uses those resources on academics.

You think that these issues don't affect the academics of the students at the school?

Students are people, not widgets.

[Anonymous]

OP, if you are so concerned, take your child to Africa American History Museum every weekend until she or he learns the history and understands it. Ask your child what hs or she wants to do to be more cultured and race sensetive. You can even ask your child to start a inclusive club and WWHS and reach out to MOCO for change si the activisits there could work with him or her to do something in WWHS. There are many ways yo and your child can start from your family.
Dont know where did you send your child for elementary school and middle school in MCPS, please ask yourself, did you try to reach the minority parents before high school?
The easiest way os to move to SS pr Takoma Park.