Reply to spin-off! What is so awful about attending school with exclusively upper middle class kids?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]What is so awful about attending school with exclusively upper middle class kids?[/quote]

When "diversity in schools" stops being the same thing as "less than great schools", I'll embrace it.  Until then, no thanks.

[/quote]

For us who maybe don't live in such a great school district - "less than great school" might actually be an issue. Or maybe my kid has special learning needs that make a public school a terrible fit. Or whatever the reason. The question still remains ....

So is it really so awful that my kid attends a "school with exclusively upper middle class kids"?[/quote]

Not the pp you quoted. My staunch answer is "No." [b]As long as you teach your children that all people are equal regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity, or financial means. Poor people aren't bad and rich people aren't good.[/b] Get them involved in community service and charity early. If the school is a good fit for your child and provides  the level of education you're happy with, then go there. There's no need to bend over backwards to eschew private school so your little one will become a "good person." There are lots of crappy, mean-spirited people from all income levels. Think about it. Did you turn out exactly like your other classmates, or are you more a product of what your parents taught you at home?[/quote]

It just sounds like from many posts that people want the schools to teach diversity instead of the parents.[/quote]

I don't want the school to "teach" diversity, as it's not something that can really be taught.  It's something that needs to be experienced.  If everyone my kids go to school with is just like them, the school (and I as a parent) can "teach" diversity all I want, but [b]it's not going to go as far in getting them comfortable around all sorts of people as actually attending school with all sorts of people will.[/b][/quote]

[b]Not true. A visit to any racially diverse school's cafeteria will show you that this doesn't happen. Children/teens gravitate towards others "like them." Did you attend college in the US? Did you befriend people of varied cultures, races, nationalities? If so, then there's a great way to teach your children about being comfortable with others who don't look like them. Visit your friends or have them visit you. Privates aren't 100% white. Go out of your way to befriend students who aren't white (sorry, but I'm making an assumption that you are white). Invite them and their families over. Sometimes all it takes is one or two good friends from a particular race, ethnicity, or religion to help you accept the entire group. You can learn to be comfortable around a variety of people, just start with the people at your child's school, in your neighborhood (again, even upper NW isn't 100% white).[/[/b]quote]

Actually, I'm black, and just as guilty of self-segregating in high school as anyone else.  But my point, and the point of some pp's that posted above, is that in a diverse school, you often have to interact with kids of different races and SES levels.  While your lunch group - i.e., your closest friends - likely will be those similar to you, it is damn hard to avoid any interactions with kids of different backgrounds if you are in a truly diverse school.  And I agree with the pp's pointing out that in most private schools, there is not a lot of socio-economic diversity, which is what the topic of this post was originally about.[/quote]

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