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

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[quote=Anonymous]If it had been 1 teacher I think the OP might have been overly sensitive in viewing the whole school by that one person's comments, but OP said teachers plural.

I'm also Irish American (clearly Irish name, and I look sterotypically Irish- reddish hair, tons of freckles, pale) and absolutely I've gotten asked if I'm Irish and heard jokes. I'm second generation American on both sides (German and Irish) and we do hang on to a lot of my grandparents' traditions in my family.  No one assumes this on meeting me though and starts going on about culture week. I've never been treated as less American because of this or gotten asked repeatedly where I'm really from when I've named my hometown.  I would be kind of confused if someone did do this. I can also understand curiosity as a motivator if someone is clearly a non-native English speaker, but OP is from Brooklyn.  When he said that it should have been left alone.  He's given an answer, identified American as the point of origin he cares about.

I don't think anyone was trying to be rude or make him uncomfortable, but I can also understand that there can be a really different vibe between accepting cultural differences and focusing on cultural differences.  The whole thing becomes extra weird because of the assumption that the OP would naturally identify more as generically Asian (the origami and Chinese New Year being lumped together bit) than American. I doubt that happens very frequently to non-accented caucasian parents visiting that school.  If it does that's a "unique" environment, to say the least. [/quote]

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