Sending kid to school where they would be the minority

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It can be an issue in middle school, but in Kindergarten they are unaware of differences of that nature unless someone tells them.

You are wrong and spreading this idea is dangerous.

Get a grip. Racists are made not born. Didn’t you learn anything from South Pacific? You have to be carefully taught.

Different poster. Research makes it clear this is not true. I would rather trust evidence over a decades-old musical...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I hated being an extreme minority as a kid so I’m not doing that to my kids. Unless it’s a white kid. In that case, I think you get enough positive depictions who look like you just by living in the US, so it’s ok if that doesn’t happen at school.

My child is white and was in the minority (1-2 kids like him in class).
Nobody picked on him but somehow he had few friends.
I thought maybe it was more SES related, but!
He is now at a school with many white and Asian kids and some hispanic kids sprinkled in and his friends are mostly white (some hispanic). I have no idea why that is, but will try to stick to majority white schools just for him to have a good “selection” of friends.

WTF kind of racism is this? You want to make sure your kid goes to a majority white school so he has lots of choices of white friends? That is pretty awful.

I also think this is terrible. My white kid goes to a school that’s 50% white , 25% black, 10% Hispanic, 8% Asian, and then small percentages of Pacific Islander and American Indian. I’d say only 5 % of her friends are white. Your kid shouldn’t need to select from white people to have friends.

[Anonymous]

My kids are white and in the minority at their diverse school. I think it’s 20-30% white. I’m fine with that, and I think it’s great that they’re in such a diverse setting. They seem to have racially diverse friend groups.

For high school, DD had a choice of going to a school where she’d be an extreme minority. Its racial makeup included about 1-2% white kids. DD has anxiety, teenagers can be cruel, and I didn’t feel great sending her somewhere that she would stand out so dramatically. If she were more confident and didn’t have anxiety, we might’ve been more open to it, but it seemed too stressful for her at this point. I’m grateful that we live in a diverse enough area that we’re able to make choices like this instead of having it decided for us.

[Anonymous]

My kids are biracial, both races are minorities. We live in the PNW and both races are an even smaller minority here. My kids don’t have a choice and it’s insane to me that you would even discuss this as if there was nothing wrong with this premise.
So your kids get to be majority every day all day and you're going to forego a good school because they may need to learn how to navigate life not being a special snowflake?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was one of 6 people of color on my grade all through high school. Was fine although all six of us became friends. We were also “model minority” groups and lived up to the reputation of being high achievers. When I was really little I didn’t mind being a POC and liked showing off my culture to my white classmates.

I went to high school in suburban NY (LI) and there were eight black kids in my entire school. I thought it was great that they weren't all friends with each other. I felt like it said something about us (whites) that we made the black kids feel comfortable enough that they didn't have to stick together.

How wonderful that you made the school nice for the black kids. Should we all say thank you? Do you not see how incredibly racist your post is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are biracial, both races are minorities. We live in the PNW and both races are an even smaller minority here. My kids don’t have a choice and it’s insane to me that you would even discuss this as if there was nothing wrong with this premise.
So your kids get to be majority every day all day and you're going to forego a good school because they may need to learn how to navigate life not being a special snowflake?

+1. Most of us with brown skin don't get to choose to be a majority in school. We just learn how to exist in a diverse society and get along.

[Anonymous]

Crickets...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I hated being an extreme minority as a kid so I’m not doing that to my kids. Unless it’s a white kid. In that case, I think you get enough positive depictions who look like you just by living in the US, so it’s ok if that doesn’t happen at school.

My child is white and was in the minority (1-2 kids like him in class).
Nobody picked on him but somehow he had few friends.
I thought maybe it was more SES related, but!
He is now at a school with many white and Asian kids and some hispanic kids sprinkled in and his friends are mostly white (some hispanic). I have no idea why that is, but will try to stick to majority white schools just for him to have a good “selection” of friends.

WTF kind of racism is this? You want to make sure your kid goes to a majority white school so he has lots of choices of white friends? That is pretty awful.

I also think this is terrible. My white kid goes to a school that’s 50% white , 25% black, 10% Hispanic, 8% Asian, and then small percentages of Pacific Islander and American Indian. I’d say only 5 % of her friends are white. Your kid shouldn’t need to select from white people to have friends.

I have no idea why he does that! We never discuss the race if his friends either. It just so happens! Is it some like-mindedness? I have no idea. But I don’t think I want him to be in a school where whites are an extreme minority.

[Anonymous]

We rejected houses in boundaries where my kid would have been one of the only 1-2 white kids in her class each year. She also would have been one of the only non-ESOL kids and one of a very few non-FARMS kids so it was a no-brainer for me. That felt like a recipe for feeling left out or getting picked on. We also rejected schools that were basically 97% white and 98% non-FARMS because I feel like that's not how the world is and she shouldn't grow up in a bubble.

The school we picked has just under 40% caucasian kids and a really diverse mix of AA, Asian, Hispanic and mixed-race kids. She has friends from all 4 groups, and the activities/teams we do are very diverse. The ESOL and FARMS rates are both in the 20-30% range, and I think that's healthy too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We rejected houses in boundaries where my kid would have been one of the only 1-2 white kids in her class each year. She also would have been one of the only non-ESOL kids and one of a very few non-FARMS kids so it was a no-brainer for me. That felt like a recipe for feeling left out or getting picked on. We also rejected schools that were basically 97% white and 98% non-FARMS because I feel like that's not how the world is and she shouldn't grow up in a bubble.

The school we picked has just under 40% caucasian kids and a really diverse mix of AA, Asian, Hispanic and mixed-race kids. She has friends from all 4 groups, and the activities/teams we do are very diverse. The ESOL and FARMS rates are both in the 20-30% range, and I think that's healthy too.

What school zone is this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not want to send my white kids to a majority black/brown school. At the same time, I hope that the minority kids are having a pleasant experience at our mainly white school.

Why not?

[Anonymous]

Get over yourself. Your child will be fine in a black/brown school. Kids pick on kids sometimes even in schools where the makeup is almost one demographic. The luxury of even having a choice in this matter is the proof of white privilege in case there are any non-believers. Chose to pass on your fragility to your child or don't. I'm sure this fear informs many of your other decisions like who you hire and who you call the police on.

[Anonymous]

Get over yourself. Your child will be fine in a black/brown school. Kids pick on kids sometimes even in schools where the makeup is almost one demographic. The luxury of even having a choice in this matter is the proof of white privilege in case there are any non-believers. Chose to pass on your fragility to your child or don't. I'm sure this fear informs many of your other decisions like who you hire and who you call the police on.

[Anonymous]

No. Don't do it. We did and we regret it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get over yourself. Your child will be fine in a black/brown school. Kids pick on kids sometimes even in schools where the makeup is almost one demographic. The luxury of even having a choice in this matter is the proof of white privilege in case there are any non-believers. Chose to pass on your fragility to your child or don't. I'm sure this fear informs many of your other decisions like who you hire and who you call the police on.

Precisely.