Reply to Kind of Felt Uncomfortable Because of My Ethnicity On a Tour

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[quote=Anonymous]7:04 - the "you must be Irish" comment is a little different.   Flip this around.  If you went to visit a school where the percentage of caucasian kids was small, well under 10% say, it would be closer.  So let's say you did visit that imaginary school and on the visit everyone asked you where you were from and when you said DC they seemed skeptical and asked where you were really from.  Then they started going on and on about how their school even talks about places that white people are from and they bring in a Dad who is German to talk on Culture Day (so the children can really *understand* your non-German but also white family) and they do this great Ukranian egg craft (so your similarly white child should feel at home) and they even do a Bastille Day celebration (which you probably celebrate in your caucasian family, right?)!  And hey, maybe your kid could bring in some authentic kolaches on Culture Day, right?All the while you're thinking, what does this have to do with me or my kid, we're just Americans from DC like most of the families here.

None of those things would be intended to be mean or unkind, but they also would be pretty offputting, don't you think?  I don't think OP is overreacting to have felt a little uncomfortable with the tone of the visit.  I also don't think OP would be overreacting to have left with a sense that his kid would be asked random questions about being Chinese or asked to bring in special food from China on culture day in spite of not being Chinese.  In a kind of hamfisted attempt to say "we value everyone's culture" they pretty much told the OP that they don't value his culture.  In pursuing the "look at all the cool "Asian" stuff we do" line to try to make him feel at home, they sent an all Asian cultures are the same message.  And perhaps most importantly, it sends the message that people at this school, no matter how well meaning, are making huge assumptions about people based on their appearance.  It doesn't make them bad people, but  I can certainly understand why it would give anyone pause about sending a child to school there.[/quote]

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